


She hides behind the face nobody knows.

by agentemaria4722



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adultery, Angst, Domestic Violence, F/M, Fluff, Have I mentioned the slow burn?, Past Child Abuse, Self-Esteem Issues, Sexism, Slow Burn, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 56,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27197990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentemaria4722/pseuds/agentemaria4722
Summary: Jemma Simmons is considered an unattractive woman, so she has dedicated herself to studying and working for most of her life. After a long time, she finally manages to find a job as an assistant.Her life changes by completely when she is hired in Hydra and meets Leopold Fitz, the company's new director. She will discover her true value as a woman and scientist and will learn to love herself and others.Yo soy Betty la fea AU
Relationships: Framework AIDA/Framework Leo Fitz, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 42
Kudos: 29





	1. Jemma.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for being here, this is my first long work (that I dare to publish at least) and is based on the famous Colombian tv show “Betty la fea” (Ugly Betty in USA), is not a faithful adaptation but most part of the work is based on the telenovela. I will put more tags with the pass of the chapters. 
> 
> I will try to publish constantly, but I can’t promise it because Uni and all that. 
> 
> My first language is not English and I don’t have a beta so I apologise for the possible mistakes.  
> Update: the first 12 chapters are unbeta’d, the rest have a wonderful beta @bookscoffeerain

Jemma Simmons had been looking for work for so long, her curriculum was absolutely impeccable but her image not so much, in a world where the cover mattered more than the content of the book she was at enormous disadvantage. Or that was what they had made him believe, because Jemma Simmons, was beautiful even if she did not benefit from that beauty.

Jemma was sitting in the boardroom of the famous technology company, Hydra, she was excited to be here even if she work as secretary. Jemma was desperate, she had spent too much time without work, and was ashamed for not contributing to household expenses. The door opened and two men entered and behind them a woman who seemed to be a model, she felt quite sad because she sat by her side and put her curriculum at the table, Jemma knew she had no chance and was willing to get up from the table and simply leave before she humiliated even more but for some reason she could not get up from the seat.

The two men had been staring at the documents in their hands and didn’t look at them at any time, perhaps that's why they had not yet pulling her out under any pretext; when they did, the first one they watched was the woman by her side and ate her with their eyes, they saw her from top to bottom and from bottom up, she was a goddess.

"Good afternoon," said the man with a suggestive smile that disappeared after he turned to see Jemma, his expression was disgustful, the other man had exactly the same expression. “Ladies...” he made a grim “As you know, we are looking for a secretary for the presidency of this prestigious company and we want them to tell us why do you think that you are the right person for work. Let's start with you, miss...” he referred to the woman who looked like a model.

“Verónica Malik”

“What experience do you have?”

“I don’t really have any experience,” she said by wrapping her hair in her finger and smiling “I’ve never worked. But I have six semesters of chemistry at Harvard, I'm here because Ophelia told me that Leopold is looking for an assistant”

“And you miss...”

“Jemma Simmons. I have no experience as an assistant either, but I will explained, as you will see in my curriculum I have a ph.D in biology and another in chemistry both by Oxford, with honorary mention. I have a postgraduate degree in quantum physics and I made a work about the theory of multiverse while I was working in Cybertek. I also manage some computer programs on genetic study, I have basic knowledge about programming and speak several languages. Everything is in my curriculum” the men seemed completely impressed with what she just said to them “As I’ve introduced myself to so many job interviews, I’ve run out of photos for the curriculum but I can bring you one”

“No, you don’t need to” he made a grim “Explain me something, with such a curriculum like this, why do you want to be a secretary?”

“Well, as you know, it is very difficult to find a good job in the scientific field and I don’t have enough experience. I thought starting from below in such an important company like this, I can show my ability and find an ascend” she smiled nervous.


	2. Wishing someone could hear her, so loud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second part! It’s more longer than the first one and I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> Once again, English is not my first language and I don’t have a beta, so i apologise for any mistake and don’t doubt to tell me in the comments

With his father’s retirement, Leopold had been under a big pressure for days after he was elected as president on a board with Hydra executives thanks to his project proposals. He had a lot on his shoulders, all the responsibility involved in taking over such an important company as Hydra, and also he has to comply with the all goals that he promised for the first year if he didn't want Grant Ward to take away his management, his father always demanding excellence and like the cherry in the cake, he has to plan a wedding.   
  


Leo Fitz, he was a son of a bitch, or at least it was the description that the people around him have it. Egocentric, cruel, love of many women and cold, he was the number one enemy of the inhumanes. But Leo was trying to hide all the trauma and pain underneath that mask of hate and egocentrism, since the early separation of his mother when he was only ten his father had shaped him to be Hydra's perfect boss.

His father was showing him his new office, Leopold saw everything from the floor to the ceiling thinking about all the changes he wanted to make once he took full office. There were still many details to look after for the change of command, and Leopold was frankly overwhelmed.

“Here is” extended his arms to the office “I hope you won’t do a disaster”

He put his eyes in white and sat in the chief chair, enjoying a little of the position of power that he had now and that would soon begin to exercise. There would be a lot of changes around here.

“Excuse me” heard a few knocks at the door followed by Michael, one of the men in charge of personnel recruitment, asking for access to the office “Doctor Fitz, asked for a meeting with you”

“Please tell me that you have news about my assistant”

“Good, I'm glad to know you're not a useless after all" Michael laughed bitterly “Give me that”

Leopold took the folder that Michael offered him, his eyes came out of his basins when he saw the name of the chosen one before even seeing her resume and her photo.

“What? What in the bloody the hell made you choose Veronica?”

“Well, she seemed to be the one for the job. The other candidate... Well... She was well above the position and her appearance frankly...”

“Appearance? What do you mean by that?” Alistair asked by taking the folder with the curriculum of the other candidate.

“It’s... Well. How do you say...? It's um... Ugly. And I think she's not the image we want Hydra's presidency to have.”

“Ugly?” Leopold asked by ruining his nose “Give that” and took the curriculum from his father’s hands and was impressed by what he was reading “Wow, Why would a person with such a career want a post as a secretary?”

“She said she wanted to gain experience. Honestly, Doctor, I think Veronica Malik is the one for the job, Mrs Ophelia recommended it”

“The one for the job? Michael, do you ever use your brain? Veronica is her best friend and Ophelia wants her here to watch me” He sighed “You say she’s ugly, right? What do you mean exactly with ugly”

“Well...”

————

Jemma Simmons was a genius in the entire length of the word, her brain was a Universe in itself and she was one of the few people who could says that has a ph.D at sixteen years old. However, Jemma's trust and self-esteem were affected by the time that she had spent with people much older than her and whom motivated by the jealousy of her intelligence, mocked her because of her appearance; Jemma Simmons was not ugly, no, she had the potential to be absolutely precious, but unfortunately she didn’t show it and ended up with Jemma hiding what she had always been, a classic beauty, and she also stopped herself from being the strong and steady woman that she was destined to be.

Jemma completely forgot her physical appearance, her hair was barely managed to be combed from time to time only if she used several layers of hair lacquer to keep it online, she wore clothes terribly outdated and that didn’t combine, and the glasses that didn’t benefit her face were only the cherry of the cake. She had neglected both her self-esteem and her trust that she eventually projected all that to the outside, making her look like an ugly woman.

She returned to her home, devastated, knowing that “we’ll call her” was a sure rejection. That flawless curriculum wouldn’t help her when Veronica Malik was a goddess down from Olympus and the exact picture of what they wanted for Hydra’s president’s secretary.  
  


“Jemma!” she listened to her father’s voice from the kitchen after he opened the door “What joy that you are here, how did it go?”

“Good” he tried to pretend “They told me that they will call me”

Her father gave her a soft smile, she had never been a good liar and anyone could see through her eyes the truth.

“I’ll go to my room, I’m tired”

She climbed the stairs to her room and closed the door behind her, sighed and took the music box next to her bed and turned the crank a couple of times to start playing the music. For years that little music box had been the solution to all her problems, Dad give it to her when she was a girl, the music box was to lock up all the thoughts that scared her and don’t let her sleep at night, she only need put everything in the music box and the thoughts will be locked, the music box was the solution to nightmares and even in adulthood helped her to keep all the feelings that oppressed her chest constantly.

As we had said before, she was not a person who was incapable or ugly about her physical, but when someone repeats it to you for years and finally you allows your mind to give in to words, it is very difficult to counter your brain to face the truth. Jemma could be whatever o whoever she wanted to be if she only had the courage to do so, but instead she had learned to lower her head and repress all her feelings in that music box since she was a child.   
  


————

"Michael told you, the image is also important"

“This woman is much more than capable of carrying out her work as my assistant. And she's not going to be watching me all the time and giving Ophelia reports about my life every minute. I want to meet her”

“For what?”

“I want everything to be perfect in my first year in charge. And I need an effective assistant, not a pretty face”

“Well, Verónica has six semesters as chemistry”

“And Jemma Simmons has the full career and a ph.D on it”  
  


“She shouldn’t be working as a secretary then”

“That’s what intrigues me most, why a woman with these characteristics wants such a low position”

“Maybe she is not as competent as she claims to be” his father took the curriculum again “Call Cybertek, she put it as a reference”

————

“Jemma?”

“Come in”

Her father comes in to her room and she got out of bed giving him a smile. Shw had been looking on her phone in the job section for something that a biologist-chemistry with two doctorates and 26 years old could apply. 

“There’s someone who calls you”

No one called her, she frowned in confusion.

————

“Yes, thank you,” said Alistair before ending the call “Well, yes, she worked at Cybertek. He says that she's a very competent, intelligent woman, but what she has intelligence she doesn’t have it in beauty”

  
“Why she didn’t work there anymore?”

“Personal Recortion”

Leopold seemed to meditate on it for a moment. This woman was certainly an element he would like to have at his side, not as his secretary but as his lab partner, her curriculum was impressive and for what he had read in her article about multiversus, she could help him with looking glass. And more importantly, Ophelia would not use her to have him perfectly watched and he could continue his life without any guilt.

“Let’s call her. I'll interview her myself”

“You’re giving her too much importance”

“Maybe, but as I said, I want a good assistant who is capable to do the work and not a pretty face”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Im open with all kind of commentaries so if you have any opinion I will be happy to reply.
> 
> I have to edit chapter 3 so i can promise for any date but it will be soon (I hope)
> 
> Hope you have a wonderful day!


	3. As he walks away, she slowly breaks a smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! Hope that the wait values and you enjoyed the chapter. This one haves more things that aren’t part of the telenovela but also have a lot of references of it, like I say in the first chapter, the work is not the telenovela by completely but is the idea in general

Jemma was excited when she was called to ask for her presence the next day in Hydra, she managed the best she could and made sure she had all the necessary documents to check her studies and how capable she was to carry out the work. There was a great pinch of optimism inside her and she felt very confident of her ability, it’s been a time since she felt that way ( being honest, she had only had that confidence before she go to college, before she faced pressure and envy from the people who considered her a competition), it was the farthest way she had come in a job interview since she was fired from Cybertek, so she allowed herself to be a little superstitious and believe that this was her lucky day.

She arrived fifteen minutes before her appointment, it was so early that there were not yet many people in the office and she felt a little nervous (more than she was already). Five minutes before the time of her appointment, a woman who seemed to be very serious and badly humorated, wearing a perfectly ironed black suit and her black hair nicely combed approached her, the woman was short of height but she imposed with her gaze.   
  


“Jemma Simmons?” She asked her in a neutral tone.

“That's me”

“The Doctor is waiting for you in the boardroom”

Oh, God. The Doctor? She thought she would be interviewed by the same people as the day before, never passed through her head that she would be interviewed by one of Hydra's bosses. Her stomach was on her throat when she stood up and followed the woman to the boardroom.   
  


_____  
  


“I don’t understand, I thought we had people who were in charge of personal recruitment”  
  


God helped him, he couldn’t take out Ophelia from him since it came to her ears that Veronica had not been recruited, without mentioning that his father thought that it was a fabulous idea mentioning that he was going to interview Jemma Simmons and that only put her more paranoid.   
  


“My love, I’ve told you a thousand times, I want everything to be perfect”

“I know, but I don’t understand...” she interrupted and smiled at him “Fine, you’re the boss,” she sighed resigned and sat next to him “I spoke with Whitehall yesterday, he mentioned his great interest in your proposal for experimentation with the inhuman group”

His heart stopped for a moment, Leopold knew that what gives him the Hydra presidency was his proposal for experimentation with the inhuman people that turned out to be more sadistic and interesting for senior executives than the proposal of persecution of Grant Ward, Leopold had learned in his years in Hydra that they preferred slow and well-structured torture. He had tried to make a lot of emphasis on Looking Glass so that senior positions in the organization didn’t pay too much attention with the inhuman experimentation, the proposal had only been designed to ensure that he won the position but it was too intriguing for the sadistic minds of executives.

When Leopold was a child, he use to talk with his mother for hours about the great inventions he would do to help people, he had always imagined himself as part of the solution and not as the enemy. Of course, that was before his father intervened, since then he had trained him to be as cold and sadistic as every worker in Hydra; although sometimes his mother’s memory was strong enough to make him feel guilty and vulnerable.

“What did you said to him?” He managed to respond despite his discomfort.

“That as soon as you have the green light to start your work as Hydra’s president, you will start”

“You shouldn’t have”

“Why not? You know that everyone had a great interest in your proposal and how well structured it is, I don't see why we can't start immediately.”

He said nothing more, there were a couple knocks on the door “Come in”

Agent May opened the door and presented herself in front of them formally “Jemma Simmons is here”

“Make her pass”

May made a gesture outside and immediately a woman, a low and thin woman came in and Leopold understood that Michael was referring to with the “ugly.” It is true that Jemma Simmons was very unpleasant, she was wearing a dress that he could only relate to his grandmother, one of those dresses with prints that only relate to an old sofa and with lace on his neck, she wore a pink cardigan, black stockings and low shoes; her hair was controlled on a ponytail with several layers of hair lacquer and she was wearing glasses that didn’t do any favor her face; in fact, it seemed that that woman used everything that didn’t favored her, as if she tried to avoid being attractive.

"Good morning" she murmured trembling.

_____  
  


Jemma felt her legs were shaking, she was too nervous wife being interviewed by one of Hydra's high commanders. When she entered the boardroom, the first thing she saw was the man in charge, Leopold Fitz, and his beautiful and deep blue eyes that were able to steal her breath.

“Please come in” he move, which gave her the opportunity to see a highly attractive woman who seemed to be too perfect for human being, and her presence intimidated her even more than that of the Asian woman who received her.

She sat on two seats away of that woman and tried to relax when The Doctor took his place at the head and fixed all her attention on her, Jemma wasn’t accustomed to being positively the center of attention and that man also had something that intimidated her.

“Miss Simmons, or should I say Dr. Simmons” she couldn’t avoid the smile “We called you because your curriculum is quite impressive and...” he was interrupted when someone opened the door of the boardroom, Jemma only felt even more intimidated when she saw Alistair Fitz entering the room.

“Please forgive the delay” he looked at her and made a grim “Please continue”  
  


“Don't worry, we were just starting. As I said, your curriculum is honestly impressive and we ask ourselves why you are applying for a position as assistant”

“Well... As I told my interviewers yesterday, the field of work in science is too much in demand and I would like to start my career from below in a company as important as this and demonstrate my abilities” she heard a female mockery next to her “I have no problem taking care of an agenda, attending calls and everything that work as an assistant implies, I am able to do all that”

“Yes, that’s clear to me,” The Doctor told her with a neutral expression.

“Mrs Simmons, could you come out and give us a moment?” The other woman said in a firm tone that freeze her blood.

“Of course” she murmured and stood “Excuse me”

Jemma knew that the woman was behind her by the sound of her heels resonating against the ground, she opened the door to go out and all her mood and positive attitude vanished when she saw the perfect Veronica waiting.

_____

Leopold was confused by Ophelia’s request for Jemma Simmons to leave and accompany her to the door, but her girlfriend showed her intentions when she entered again accompanied by Veronica Malik. Ophelia was clearly determined to keep him under surveillance.  
  


“I took the liberty of calling Veronica,” she said with an almost cynical smile.

“Ophelia...”

“Leopold” Veronica smile and came to kiss his cheek to say hello “Hello”

“Hello” he says with fake joy.

“Alistair” she approached his father to greet him as well.

  
“It’s been a while since we saw each other” he answered.

“I called Veronica because I think she is the one to be your assistant, she is a person of all our trust to handle matters as sensitive as those handled by the president of Hydra,” she said with a whimsical smile, she wanted to have the reason no matter what “In addition, the image is very important and she is all we want to project about our company. Your assistant is the first face that the people saw when they want to meet you”

_____  
  


Jemma waited outside the boardroom, at this point she waited for her to be rejected, even more so because they took too long with Veronica compared to her. Jemma sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room and took out her phone to continue looking in the job section, it would not be the first time that employers looked more at the physicist than on her ability to perform the job, so she remained optimistic and trusted that she had in the morning and trust in that she would find a job in which they value her intellect.

She didn't know exactly how long it had passed, but about fifteen minutes later, the woman who had been with The Doctor and Veronica Malik came out, they didn’t seem entirely happy but they weren’t completely defeated. Jemma put her attention to their conversation even though they were a little far from her.

“I don’t understand, what’s going on?” Veronica asked.

“This woman” she appointed to Jemma not discreetly at all “It’s taking your place”

“Ophelia, when you told me that there was someone stealing my job I thought I had to come in bikini”

“Well, you see...” 

“I thought Leopold had better tastes”

“It seems that he is having a fidelity crisis” both mocked and left.

_____  
  


“What do you think?” Leopold asked his father.

“I think you're right, you need an efficient person. But Ophelia is also right”

“What are you talking about?”

“You need to project a good image”

“What does that mean?”

“Are you stupid?” He said "As a boss you have to project an impeccable image, everything has to be perfect, you can't allow anything to be out of place" he told him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and he a poor idiot who did not understand the importance of things, a tone to which he was in fact quite accustomed for a while.

“Veronica is going to be watching me all the time, she won’t do her job well”

“You can... I don’t know, hire Veronica as your public image, let her receive the clients, whatever with public relations. And Simmons as your assistant, to help you with the reports and organization of your agenda, all those things”

____  
  


“Excuse me,” Jemma timidly told the woman who received her “I think The Doctor is too busy and I... I just agreed on another job interview, do you think you could tell him that I had to retire?”

“Huh... Of course” the woman seemed confused, no one make wait to The Doctor and this shy woman simply decided to leave just like that.   
  


She gave her a little smile and turned around to leave, held the strap on her bag forcefully.

“Miss Simmons” she stopped when she heard the voice of Leopold Fitz.

“Doctor, I was...” she pointed out “It doesn’t matter, thanks for the opportunity and...”

“What I are you talking about?”

“I...”

“It doesn’t matter. They are waiting in administration for you to sign your contract, go immediately, Mr Michael is waiting for you. And I'll see you tomorrow” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it, I can’t believe that I write and translate this so fast haha I hope you liked this chapter and I see you in the next chapter


	4. It's a hard road.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn more about Simmons backstory and her first day working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is where the things started to be different in relation with the original story.

Jemma came to her home giving jumping of joy, she had spent too much time without work and now that she had it felt too extasied. For a moment she had lost hope of getting the job but she had good luck.   
  


“Jemma?” She listened to her mother from the living room.

“How good you are here together!” She said with a smile watching her parents who were on the couch watching TV “I have important news”

“News?” Her mother was confused. Her father turned off the television to focus his attention on her.   
  


“I have the job!” She said enthusiastically “I'll start working at Hydra from tomorrow”

“That’s excellent news!” Her father said, and he got up to hug her “Congratulations, darling”

“It was about time, I thought you would never find a job”

After lunchtime, Jemma went up to her room to start organising all about her first day of work, she was a control fan and wanted everything to be absolutely perfect. It had to be a good first day.

_____  
  


We all have a background story, we all have moments in our lives that define our person. Jemma was not the exception.

Jemma Simmons was a prodigious girl, according to the words of the teachers and psychologists who had consulted when she was a kid, she went up grade very quickly even through the fact that both her parents and teachers had tried to delay it because they wanted her to be a girl to develop normally even though her great intelligence.

When she was thirteen years old she entered college, her parents begged her to wait at least two years to take such a big step but she was too excited to wait two years. The first day of school was fantastic, she had never been so excited, she finally had a good challenge and in her still childish thought, she use to think that she finally be out of the mocking comments of the girls in high school, Jemma thought that she would be surrounded by serious and mature adults.  
  


She didn't know what she was getting into.  
  


Jemma didn’t know that in science-related careers there was so much competence, everyone wanted to be the best of the class, bring ideas that would amaze teachers and crush those who represented a danger to that propose. A thirteen-year-old girl studying two careers was enough to impress anyone, her brain worked so fast and it was so fascinating that her participations always contributed something to the class, not to mention the security she always have.   
  


But despite her intelligence she was still a child. And she was far from her home, vulnerable to the dangers of the world that she had never really faced.   
  


At first it was little jokes here and there, comments that murmured by the low so in that way she didn’t listen to them. Until they started to get directly to her, first pushing her into the corridors which since her point of view she only saw as stupid jokes that they didn't even make in high school, she responded with sarcastic comments. Then came the heavy jokes, they began to mock her physicist, Jemma was a teenager looking for her identity and living a big series of changes, her fragile mind ended up allowing those comments to penetrate deep in her mind and it comes a moment in where the music box wasn’t enough to contain everything that was overwhelmed her.  
  


Jemma gradually lost her trust in her physicist and soon focused entirely on shining what was inside her mind, on always being the best of the class to distract herself from the bitter comments about her body and in a way to avoid pain. The appearance became something that she didn’t care about it, but the comments took root in his mind and she ended up believing in them. Anyone with a little common sense could see that sometimes she was the one sabotaged herself and stopped of being the great woman she was inside and outside.

Hopefully, one day she would realise that her value was not only in her appearance, because if she decided to pay attention to what she had, she would realise the beautiful woman she was. Maybe one day she would learn to liberate her feelings and facing them instead of running away and ignoring them, because one of these good days, the music box would end up exploding for everything she had made it contain.

Maybe it was too difficult to face her own demons.

_____  
  


She woke up very early to prepare everything and arrive on time, she couldn’t be late on her first day. She ironed her dress the best she could, made sure that the neck and lace sleeves didn’t have any fold and everything was symmetrical, she picked up a small hair that came out of her ponytail and placated it with a good layer of hair lacquer; in her bag she have her office kit and portfolio with all her color system. Everything was gonna be perfect.

  
In the way to Hydra, she goes to buy a tea and a cupcake, she stopped in a small park to eat it before continuing her way to the company. She was pretty excited and her steps were accelerated because of the happiness.

"Good morning" she said to the receptionist with a smile and showed him her identification and gave him her bag for check.   
  


She went up to the top floor, directly to the presidency area. She was nervous when she approached a tall blonde woman wearing a red blazer similar to a uniform and high boots, she seemed as intimidating as the woman who had been with The Doctor the day before and she was scared but she really had to ask someone about her workspace.

"Excuse me" she murmured.   
  


"Yes?" She turned on her heels, elegantly.

"I'm Dr. Fitz's assistant, his new assistant”

"Oh yes, for any reason they asked me to receive you. I don't understand why an element of the spy area have to do it but...” She obviously said sarcastically, took her tablet and read something "Veronica?"

"Um no, Jemma"

"Oh, right, Jemma Simmons. He asked me to make you wait a little bit” 

"The Doctor?"

"No, Hunter, he asked me to receive you and entertain you"

"I'm sorry, I don't understand"

"Hunter, he's Dr. Fitz's best friend, so he's got a good job even if he’s an idiot." Jemma was surprised by the words of the woman "Luck for you, you don't know him yet" she smiled "I'm Bobbi, well, my friends call me Bobbi but it's actually Barbara”

"Jemma" she smiled "This person, Hunter, is it someone I have to be careful with?"

Bobbi mocked "Hell, no. It's just... He's in my department but he passed the most of the time with The Doctor" she didn't seem to despise that man at all "It's a whole case"

"Oh"

"But you should be careful with Ophelia. She can be-- Well, frankly, it's cruel and ruthless. And The Doctor does whatever she wants the most part of the time"

"Ophelia?"

"Yes, Ophelia, his fiancée"

Ophelia would have to be the woman who was in her interview the day before, the description "cruel and ruthless" definitely fits with that woman.

"However" she sighed "It's... The doctor can be a little special, ask May for that, she was his assistant while he was in the science division for a while while May was moving from field to archive work” 

"Should I be scared?"

"Oh no, you seem to be organized," she told her with a rather serious expression.

"I hope to be enough for him"

"Bobbi, darling, please..." A man, clearly British according to his accent, approached them and stopped when he saw Jemma.

"I suppose you're not Verónica"

"No, I'm Jemma Simmons"

"Yes. Come with me "she gave a smile to Bobbi, who returned her and made a gesture to accompany the man "Wait for me, love" Bobbi roll her eyes.

Jemma followed the British man through the hallway, until they arrived at a white door at the end of the hallway, Jemma was a little confused because there wasn’t any free workstation all the way to the office; she assumed that her boss would want to have it near, there were some cubicles and a reception but they were already occupied.

"Fitzy" called the man and opened the door "Here we are"

_____

_Two hours before._

Fitz had arrived very early that day, it was his first day of work formally, his appointment as president officially would be up to two days. He wanted everything to be perfect, he was going to show everyone that he was the right for the job.   
  


"Here we are," Alistair said, "All yours"

Since they left Glasgow, Fitz had been instructed to have his greatest desire to be occupy that office as his own. With time he would make modifications (starting with carrying his loved holotable) but for now, he was finally here.

"I hope you know what to do with that space," said pointing to the door that seemed to be a closet.

"It always caused me curiosity, knowing what was behind that door."

"Well, a rather stupid question," he said despising what he said, as he almost always used to do "Let’s go" he go for the door and opened it "It's the dead archive"

It was a gloomy room that gave off a faint musty scent, there were many boxes stacked one on top of the other against the walls, the room was full of dust and barely lighting by a spotlight.   
  


"Maybe you have an idea to organize all this"

"Yes, maybe"

"Talking about organise. How do you plan to organise two assistants in a space designed for one? With out mention that the double salary must be justified. I know I didn't talk much about the financial part during your training but it's an important part of the job."

"I'll say what we talked about yesterday when we decided to hire both. Veronica will take care of everything that has to do with public relations and Miss Simmons will be in charge of carrying out a check on my agenda, drawing up the reports and good... All that"

"Well" sighed and left the room "I have to go, I'm going to supervise the move. Don't ruin it"

Fitz called the cleaning department, he wanted them to clean that closet and condition it so that Miss Simmons could happily work there.

_____  
  


“Good morning, Doctor" said hello.

"Jenny, good morning"

"Jemma" murmured down.

"Excellent, I like punctuality. Now, let's start working" he joined his hands and pointed to a door at the bottom of his office "That's where you'll find your office, take charge of organizing everything according to your preferences, the indispensable is already there"

“Office?”

The Doctor went to the door and opened it for her to enter. It wasn't an office, it was a closet with a table, a chair and a computer. But if she saw it on the positive side, she wouldn't have to socialise with more people.

“I hope you comfortable,” Dr. Fitz said, and behind him she heard a mockery of the British man “We have a lot of work to do, so I want you to start immediately.”

“Of course, what do you need me to do?”

”In two days we have a board where my official appointment will be made, but they want me to present once again to the projects for which I won the position. I want you to be in charge of organizing each of the folders that will have the high controls during this board, as well as I need you to make some graphics” he delivered her a big folder “The specifications are here, do you think I can handle it?”

“Yes, sir”

“Perfect, I need it for today at the end of the day, I want to refine details and study it and we only have two days to do it” he came out of the closet and stopped “Now, you are going to be in charge of attending calls, my father and I have discussed much about it because we thought it was something that corresponded to Veronica but you are the one in charge with that. Maybe you be wondering why do I ask you this? Well, I’m not only asking you kindly, I'm demanding you, no matter what the call is, don’t share the information with ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, just with me”

“I understand”

“Do what I tell you and we’ll get along very well”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that’s all for this chapter, this one was more harder to write because I know that some people have troubles to imagine Jemma being ugly but I try to explain more about her in this chapter because in the telenovela it all more centralised in Betty being ugly but here I would like more to focused on her insecurities and her thinks about herself 
> 
> And the next one would be about Fitz, I consider that these chapters are important to understand more about the backstory and the personalities of the characters in the story and how everything is going to conclude. I hope that I’m doing a good work and you can understand the story


	5. Anyone can see your heartache.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More about Fitz story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I add some tags, just in case, this chapter could talk about sensitive topics for some people so be sure to read it first 
> 
> Besides, this one is more different than the telenovela, and for what i have write of the next chapter I think I'm already taking a path quite far from the telenovela. There are still some elements present, but I'm not guiding completely on the telenovela to write the chapters
> 
> This could have been published before but I didn’t save the translate and the stupid cellphone just turn off, so I have to start over again. And it’s more shorter, but I hope you like it

Leopold's childhood had been peculiar, he had proven his intelligence since he was practically a baby because of his advanced development in the cognitive area. However, the family situation in which he grew up in the early years of his life prevented him from developing in the social aspect and he was a lonely child during school.

Mom was his only friend. That's what she was for him, Linda Fitz was the most important person in his life from the beginning and even after more than fifteen years since he stopped seeing her, there wasn’t a single moment when he didn't think about her.

In the last days she was too present in his thoughts. Leopold had become everything his father had always wanted for his life, he was a cruel, cold and ruthless man, and although part of him was proud to finally be enough to his father’s expectations, another was wondering if his mother would be disappointed by the man he was today. With his mother he was only talking about actions that would benefit people, always meditating on whether his actions wouldn’t hurt others and creating things that would better the quality of life, she was always reminding him of the satisfaction that helped others and that he had to control his emotions so as not to hurt others.

His father had always been violent, all the time he was despising what he was doing and telling him he was an idiot, the had to spend his time inventing things that worthwhile instead of nonsense like making a device for Mr McAllister's deafness. His father constantly told him that he had to put those feminine feelings aside, that they weren’t appropriate for a boy and told his mother that he was going to ruin him and that she would become him in a coward.   
  


Leopold was taken from his mother's arms when he was only ten years old, she had begged Alistair to stay, that she would raise Leopold the way he wanted but not to take him away from her. Alistair told her that she had lost her opportunity and take Leopold from her even though he had fought to stay with her.   
  


Things changed radically from the moment they left the house, when they lived with her mother he was already a violent man who did not measure his words and whom he did not shake his hand to use physical punishment, but every filter disappeared once Leopold was far from the protection of his mother. One part of him told himself that his father actions helped him to form character, the other one felt vulnerable by the years of physical and verbal abuse he had lived through the past of the years.   
  


Leopold had been the best of the class since before leaving Glasgow, he managed to go to MIT when he was only thirteen years old and then stood out in the scientific area at the Hydra Academy. He was trained to be arrogant, to have cold blood, to do harm without feeling the slightest indication of guilt. And he worked hard to be so, he wanted his father to be proud of him.

“I have to go,” said Hunter, the only friend that really had inside Hydra “I have Bobbi waiting for me,” he said arrogantly.  
  


Fitz put his eyes blank, partly sorry for poor Barbara, he better than anyone knew that Hunter could be an idiot on several occasions and really didn’t blame her for having broke with him. It is not as if he had the healthiest and most stable relationship to say, Ophelia and he had a lot of problems.

He didn't know how he ended up in a relationship with a woman like her, her best theory was that he did what was expected of him. She was beautiful and intelligent, God, she looked like an angel and was too perfect to be real, not to mention that she was amazingly intelligent; but what she had of beauty and brain also had it as sadic, she was much worse than him, she enjoyed being bad. They had met during the Academy, but they didn’t date out until just three years ago, Ophelia had always flirt with him and his father had given him several hints about going out with her until he finally did. Now, three years later, he was engaged with her to get married and he never felt more so insecure; he had everything he was supposed to want, the job he always fought for, an amazing land beautiful girlfriend and he would leave a mark not only on Hydra but also around the world. But somehow, it wasn't right.

“I’ll see you later,” Hunter told him.

He stayed alone in the office, which gave him the opportunity to sit down and meditate on his thoughts. There was so much on his shoulders that he already felt like a physical pain. He concentrated on continuing the plans for Looking Glass, there was something that still didn’t fit into the whole plan and honestly he didn’t know how to solve it.

“Doctor Fitz” he heard the voice of his new assistant.

God, he didn't want to deal with the incompetence of a woman at these moment, he had enough problems for now to explain to Jenny how to do her job.

“What’s going on, Jenny?” He asked with some discomfort.

“I have done”

OK, that surprised him, usually he wasn't so easily surprised.

“Really?”

For a moment he felt terrified, that folder would have to be full of mistakes and he couldn’t deliver something that was done without care to Hydra executives. Jenna gave him the folder and he take it to see the stupid things this woman did; except that she didn’t do any stupidity, in fact, it was an absolutely impeccable job, he couldn’t have done better.

“How long has it been since I asked for it?”

“Two hours, I’m sorry for the delay but I was trying to classify your proposals, and since I didn’t know how to do it and how do you like, at the end I reduced it to espionage, science and communication. You will find that...” she seemed uncomfortable “Doctor, I don’t want to be rude and I know that you don’t contract me for this...”

“What are you trying to say?”

“It is impossible to create a vaccine against the inhuman gene. Um... I separate the proposals that had to do with the inhumanes according to the classification I made, so in that way the persecution is in the area of espionage, advertising for the population in communications and... And experimentation the powers for Looking Glass and the vaccine, are in science, ah... I related experimentation with persecution and the campaign of denunciation, it’s all at the end like in a kind of conclusion or a plan”

“Go to the point, Jane”

“Jemma. Anyway... I've never had the opportunity to work with samples of inhuman tissue and crystals for terregenesis but for what I know about theory on the subject...”

“You’re trying to tell me that it’s not possible”

“Exactly” she seemed proud, until he mocked.

“And that was only because you read a proposal, without any kind of laboratory studies and only with what you probably read on the Internet”

“No, I...”

“Nice work, Jean” said raising the folder she gave him.

“Jemma”

“I don’t care, anyway. Thank you, continued with what I asked you to do, contact the suppliers because I need some pieces for Looking Glass, it's written down in the folder”

“I know” she murmured.

“The go and do it instead of being here saying stupidities”

He returned to his seat and began to check the folder, she was impeccable with the organization to be honest. But he was a little bit angry for her wanted to get involved in his business, he knew what he was proposing and his secretary wouldn’t be the one who contradicted him.

But at the same time, to be honest, he was a little curious. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for being here! I will try to publish the next chapter very soon (I have the first part write it already) and I hope that you like how the things are going with the story.


	6. I have seen it all in paper dreams.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More about the first day of work of Jemma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m very sorry for the time that it took me to update. School has me dying and the time in the day is not enough, finally I did it to write while the professor is checking the homework so here it is. 
> 
> Once again, I remember you that English isn’t my first language and I don’t have a beta so the translate and the edition is all do it by myself. I’m sorry for the mistakes that you could find here 
> 
> I hope that you like this chapter

Jemma couldn’t believe all the methods of torture she had read in the last two hours, what The Doctor knew by experimentation she called torture, what they did to those poor inhuman to experiment with their powers... And she honestly didn’t understand the purpose of Looking Glass, they couldn’t create matter of nothing and much less with the specifications she read, it was like creating a super soldier completely from the nothing and that wasn’t possible; besides she didn’t understand why they wanted to eradicate the inhuman but also create them. Everything was very cloudy.

And The Doctor... He was strange. Jemma wasn’t the best judging people but there was something peculiar in him that aroused her interest. But he was too rude.

Her first day of work had started well, she felt all too simple for her abilities so in the middle of the day she had already done all the tasks assigned to her by The Doctor and now she was organising his agenda. She was efficient, could perform multiple tasks and be the best in any area, Jemma knew her abilities but also knew her defects, and knew that to be taken into account she also had to be a beautiful face.

She went out to go to the bathroom and felt a little cohibited among all the people around her, men and women wearing dark and elegant suit or combat uniforms, and she seemed to to go out of tune completely with her dress with flyers and lace and her cardigan. Everything in Hydra seemed to be impeccable except for her.

There were three women in the bathroom, Bobbi was one of them, they were reloaded against the sinks and were talking before she comes to the room.   
  


“Hello, Jemma,” Bobbi said with a smile.

“Hello” she said with a shy smile and got into the cubicle.

They continued with their talk, Jemma listened to them laughing and when she came out they were still laughing. Jemma came shy to the sink.

“Hey, Jemma” said Bobbi “Let me introduce you to my friends. They are Elena and Daisy,” she said, “They are with me in the area of operations. Daisy is a hacker. And Elena is part of the combat team”  
  


“Nice to meet you” said Daisy with a smile.

“A pleasure,” said Elena.

“Hi, I'm Jemma. I'm Dr. Fitz's assistant"

“Ugh, my respect and condolences,” Daisy said with a grim “You must be totally annoyed at this point”

“Not really, it was... Absent”

“I don’t understand, I thought the woman on reception was his assistant,” said Elena.

In fact, Jemma also didn’t understand why Verónica was also Fitz’s assistant but she took care of most of the work, it was very strange, and to be honest she felt a little uncomfortable when she found out the day before when she was signing her contract, but quickly she didn’t care because she had finally got a job and the other woman being hired would not affect her.

“It was a pleasure to meet you,” she timidly told them “I have to go back to work”  
  


“I hope have a good day,” said Daisy and Elena gave her a kind smile.

“Thank you. Same for you”

When she returned to the office, she felt a little uncomfortable when she came in because her boss wasn’t there and Veronica was in his place.

“Can I help you with anything?” Jemma asked with kindness.

“Your boss asked me to come here. Bring me a cup of coffee,” she said by snipping her fingers and sitting in front of the desk.

“Of course, I...” said she was appleled and confused by Veronica.

“If someone has to bring the coffee, it’s you, Veronica,” his boss told him, coming into the office and closing the door behind him.

“Leopold...” said with fake joy.

“How good that you were following my call, Veronica, because I want to talk with both of you,” he made a gesture to Jemma to sit next to Veronica, which she did “We have to make things clear from now on”

“Oh, of course,” Veronica said with a flirtatious smile.  
  


“Veronica, I will not tolerate you coming this late as you did today. The working day is from eight in the morning to four in the afternoon, I want you to be on time always,” he said with a hard tone “My father and I hire both of you because one has what the other needs. So I need both of you to be efficient” this time he turned to Veronica completely “Is that clear?”

“Of course, Leopold”

”Yes, sir”

“You can go”

Veronica came out not before taking a look at Jemma, who honestly felt intimidated for her contempt.   
  


“I will continue my work”

“Mr. Simmons, before you go” he got up and gave her a box full of files “I want you to take care of destroying these documents”

“Of course, Doctor, do you want me to make a copy of them?”

“No, no, it doesn’t make sense. They're just silly ideas”

“I’ll destroy it”

She took the box to her closet (he could say that she had a office but it was a closet) to start with her work, they were many plans and folders so it was better if she started at once, she wanted to do her part of the work perfectly. Jemma turn on the crusher and took out the first folder, she took out the papers and first put the folder in the machine, she was about to put the first sheet until she saw the title of the work.

It was a prototype for a non-lethal weapon, she sat and began to read the papers; it was a kind of weapon that worked with subcutaneous bullets, apparently the goal was to administer a soothing and take a person out of combat but without murdering or wounding seriously, but never managed to find a formula. Jemma turned off the machine and took one of the planes, she assumed that they were not important things since her boss gave her the papers for her to destroy, he wouldn't mind if she looked at them. The plane was fascinating, it was to make a quinjet that was able to navigate in space, the design was fantastic and very ingenious. And that wasn't all, there were all kinds of fascinating artifacts, and she couldn't believe that she was going to destroy them without even save a copy, it was true that some were incomplete and needed more development but they were still fascinating.   
  


She had no idea how long she spent reading all the papers and taking note on a paper about his ideas to making better until she heard the door open and saw his boss watching her firmly.  
  


“What are you doing, Jane?”

“Jemma” she corrected and immediately realise that she was wrong in doing so, his expression said everything “I... I was about to start but I couldn’t help but take a look”

“I think I was quite clear. I don't want you to waste your time with nonsense”

  
She decided to have courage for once in her life, these designs were absolutely fantastic and she didn’t feel able to destroy scientific discoveries of such importance.

“I don’t think I should destroy them,” said trembling, The Doctor saw her and she felt her legs weak.

God she was going to lose her job, only one day working and she would lose it just because she couldn’t remain silent. She was a good girl, she liked to follow rules and do what was expected of her, this was only been a very small moment of weakness and at this point she was already preparing an apology and maybe she didn’t lose her job.

“Excuse me?”

“The designs, I think you should keep them”

That was definitely not what she wanted to say, it was supposed to be apologizing and doing what he asked for her.

“These designs are shit. They're not good. They're just stupid dreams”

  
His answer surprised Jemma, not so much because of his words but because of his expression. He seemed hurt, while his face was in an almost neutral expression in his eyes she could see how broken and wounded he was.

“I think they’re fantastic. And I'm serious, some of them are honestly amazing. And I think you should keep them, because one day you'll find a way to make them a reality,” she said with the greatest sincerity possible, “I'm not saying it just for praising you, I really think they're great.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Yes” she smiled.

There was a brief moment when his gaze was softened, Jemma believed that she had got what she wants and that perhaps it wasn’t so bad to express what she thought. Of course, the moment just lasted a few seconds because after a moment his gaze was again cold and his face was firm and angry.   
  


“Then you're as stupid as I am at sixteen. No one can complete it,” he said in a tone that he managed to hurt her “Give me that, I will destroy them myself.”

“I’m sorry...” she murmured and gave him the box “I... I didn't want to bother”

“If you want to keep your job, Janine, it’s better you learn to follow orders, is it clear?”

“Yes, sir”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for being here, I would love to read your opinion about this chapter, I am in unknown territory and I really don’t know if I am doing it well. At this point I think I've already moved quite away from the telenovela and I hope that you enjoy this work


	7. We came down 'cause there was nothing holding us.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz is the official boss of Hydra. And he is curious about Jemma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, there are a tiny mentions about torture but I consider that are very soft and also some mention of adultery. This chapter was a little bit harder to write because is all about Fitz perspective and his internal battle with himself

Fitz was nervous and stressed, he felt that he was very close to the break line and staggering all the time near the edge.

It had been two days since the disastrous start of his assistant and after that little incident with his old designs she had stopped getting into his business and only followed his orders. She was an efficient woman, she always had the job ready before time and until now everything she had done was perfect, she was very organized and somehow managed to put order in all the disaster that was his agenda.

Veronica was the opposite, she was able to do the work but she was constantly trying to monitor him and focused on keeping an eye on every movement he was doing, in the two days she had been working she had let go some important calls for trying to take a look at what he was doing or listening to what he was talking with Hunter. That was why Simmons was in charge of calls to him and Veronica just of the generals, he couldn’t risk to her discovering where he went at night and even more importantly, with whom, and then told to Ophelia.

This day was important, he was finally to be appointed as the director of Hydra and he could barely wait for the board to begin. It had been two days of intensive preparation, he had ensured that everything was absolutely perfect; Leopold had fully memorized the folder that Miss Simmons made for the board, his stomach was stirred when he remembered what he had proposed for the hunt of inhumanes and when he practiced it in front of the mirror.

“Ok...” he looked up and saw his reflection “The proposal I want to emphasize has its own section because it’s about science, communication and espionage” he try to relax while he started “We have already discussed the media persecution of the inhuman group and I would like to move on to the part where I talk about what we as an organization will do once they enter our installations”

His voice was in the bottom of his throat, he was unable to describe all the torture he planned to perform or that he ever made once, his chest felt oppressed when he remembered the shouts of his victims and in his nightmares his faces appeared imploring piety. He hit his fist against the marble of the sink, he couldn’t be weak.

He had managed to pass all his proposals, he could do this, he could describe a game of cat chasing the mouse. He was working for the common good, the inhuman group were an abomination and he couldn't let...

It was too much, he ended up leaning in front of the toilet throwing up.

_____

Fitz had spent the night with Judy, she was simply amazing, she never make questions, Judy just wanted to feel and make it feel. Leopold always felt more relaxed when he spent a couple of hours with her and fortunately she didn't ask questions when she found him throwing up, only gave him some mouthwash and invited him to take a shower with her.

When he arrived at Triskelion he felt a little more relaxed, but all his mood fell when he saw Ophelia walking towards him with a cynical smile. Honestly he was afraid to meet her when she had that cynical expression, it didn't mean anything good, he was afraid of what was going on in her mind, she was bad, Ophelia was the definition of pure evil.

“Good morning” she said and came to kiss him.

“Good morning”

“ Ready for the big moment?”

"Always" he lied.

They went up to the upper floor in silence, both of them had to prepare for the board and the arrival of Hydra's senior commanders. When they arrived at the upper floor, he was annoyed when he didn’t see Veronica at the reception, she should have been the first to arrive, she was in charge of receiving all the executives and the one that would be waiting to deliver anything they needed in the course of the board.

On the contrary of Veronica, Jenna apparently had already arrived because on his desk there was a cup of tea that was still smoking. Leopold closed the door behind him, Ophelia sat on the edge of the desk and took the cup of tea.

“If it wasn’t for that woman’s appearance, I would be jealous,” she said, “Where were you last night?”

“With Hunter, I was in his department studying my proposal”

“Are you sure you were with Hunter?”

“Don’t you think it’s a little early for a scene of jealousy?”

Leopold knew that what he was doing was wrong, Ophelia could be evil but she didn’t deserve that he was cheating on her, but he simply couldn't stop. It was a constant battlethat he had to confront between what was right and what was wrong, he was always confused and in the last day the discomfort was becoming in physical pain.

“Ok. You were with Hunter,” she said with a dark look and a smile “Whitehall is very interested in hearing you talk about Looking Glass and the inhuman, I think it's time to talk to him about The Framework and brain mapping, once he hear that you have an idea of how to create an immortal and invincible body with inhuman powers and his conscience, you will be his favourite”

“I don’t think I have to keep praising, don’t you think? I made my presentation just like Grant Ward and turned out to be chosen as the winner for the position. Until now the relationship between The Framework, the Inhuman and Looking Glass is pure speculation, first I have to achieve Looking Glass”

And honestly he had no idea how in the hell he would do it, creating matter of nothing went it was against everything he knew and much less he could imagine how to create functional organic matter. Create an element of nothing seemed to be a dream too, a single cell was something that only a crazy scientist would think and what Ophelia had proposed to him was to want to pretend to be God. She only told him that it was possible and that he was the only person capable of doing so but she didn’t give him the answers and the information that he needed, Looking Glass was just one more on the long list of worries that he had.

“Go to the boardroom, I have a few things to attend to, I will join you in a moment”

“I have to go to my office for a few things. I will see you later” she came to kiss him and then turned out of the office.

Leopold stood up and went to Jenny's office, he needed to talk to her so she had everything in order while he was on the board and Veronica was attending him. She was sitting in front of her desk, there was a pile of documents next to her, and she was writing quickly on the computer.

“Jean”

“Doctor, good morning” she said and stood up quickly.

He really don’t understand anything in this woman's daily outfit, yesterday it was a skirt of flyers, a white blouse and a blue cardigan, today it was a yellow dress flowering with lace, some red pantyhose and a beige cardigan and her hair was even more disastrous than usual in that strange hairstyle that she made. He didn't understand why a woman would make an effort like the one she did to look bad.

“In a few moments I will go to the board with the council, I want you to stay here and attend to all the office’s affairs”

“Of course”

“Now, come with me”

Jenny went in front of him with clumsy steps and stopped in front of his desk, she seemed nervous when he approached his desk and opened one of his drawers. Leopold put out an agenda and gave it to her.

“In three days you have show me that you are an efficient woman, so I have decided to trust this to you. Now, the only who can read this it’s you and me, no one else, you have the strict order not to give absolutely any information about what is written there to anyone, especially to Ophelia” Jean nodded emphusively “Is that clear?”

“Yes, Doctor”

“Excellent” he took the cup of tea and gave him a sip “You prepared it?”

“Yes, I assumed that you would need something to calm down before the board”

“Thank you, although for the next occasion you could put more sugar on this”

“Of course,” she said with a soft smile, he didn’t know that people could smile and express themselves with all the part of the face, the smile was in every part of her.

Fortunately for Veronica, she had arrived when he left the office to go to the boardroom. The two went to the boardroom and he again reminded her how he wanted the organization to be, Leopold wanted everything to be perfect from start to end.

The pressure was almost unbearable, he didn’t know how he managed to keep his firm and authoritarian tone with his father's critical gaze on him, the sickly curiosity of Hydra's high commanders when he describe a method of torture and the knot in his stomach while explaining step by step how he planned to ruin the lives of certain people. He tried to keep his feelings out, feelings were only women's business, and he had to be firm and cold if he wanted to achieve his job.

When he finished his presentation, his stomach was stirred by the cruelty with which he had spoken. But he was also satisfied, he had finished convincing them.

“Well” Whitehall said standing up “That was fascinating”

“Of course,” Grant Ward said with obvious sarcasm “of course it’s great, the prodigal son has done it again” took the folder and gave him a look “It is a fantastic proposal, if only was possible”

“Do you have any comments to make, Ward?” He said as much poison in his voice as possible.

“This is just a fantasy, you can’t achieve all this in a year. It is a series of steps to follow that are impossible to perform in a year. In a year's time, you're not going to campaign against the inhumane and get it to the entire population, and since that, you will not achieve the goal of inhumane captured. And this project, Looking Glass, you're only giving us a hypothesis but you really have no idea of what you're doing.”

He ignored the oppression on his chest by the way that Grant spoke of the inhuman as if they were objects and armed himself of courage to respond coldly “I think it is possible to control anyone with a good dose of fear.”

“That,” Whitehall say with pleasure before he could justify Looking Glass’s delay, “That’s what we were looking for. It’s absolutely official”

“Excellent” said Ophelia with a smile “Leopold will not only meet the goals he proposed in a year, but will also surprise you with something fantastic at the end of the year”

“If Leopold doesn’t do everything he proposed before the first year, then you will be the one who has Hydra’s head,” Whitehall told to Ward.

Leopold was wrapped in congratulations and hugs, part of him was pleased, proud that the job was finally his. The other, was terribly wounded, he felt as if he had killed a part of him with the words full of cruelty that he said in the last two hours.

“Well done” his father told him. That was enough to dispel any feeling or thought, Leopold finally had his approval and couldn’t be more pleased.

_____

One week later, Fitz was in his office supervising the installation of his holotable, he wanted to get to work on the 3D models of Looking Glass to see if he could finally understand the purpose of the damn job and get out of the trouble in which he was.

Jenny left her office at lunch time and when she returned she was carrying a cup of tea for him, this time it was the right amount of sugar and he couldn’t avoid the sigh when he took the first sip, it was what he needed to calm his nerves after the day he had.

“The correct amount?”

“It’s perfect, actually. Thank you”

“It’s a pleasure” she told him with a smile.

Jenny's smiles were something special, he never seen someone smile to express emotions using all her face, her smiles were dazzling, and honestly they were completely fascinated, it was a phenomenon that he had never seen (not even in his mother, whose smile was able to alleviate his grieving when he was a child) and he was very curious about that.

In fact Jenny had his attention, since he discovered her seeing his old designs, he had not been able to get out of his head the plans and reports he had developed and kept them in one of his drawers; in the moment that he discovered Jenny reading the papers, Leopold hadn’t noticed that he took a sheet with Jenny's notes to improve his experiments and he was surprised to read all her ideas. It had been in his head since then and he couldn't pull it away.

“I'll go to continue my job”

“Jenny, wait”

“It’sJemma” she says, very shy.

“Yes, Jemma, whatever”

“How can I help you?” She take her glasses out and paid attention to him.

“I read your notes,” he show her the sheet with her notes and she blushed.

“Sir... I... I swear...”

“I’m not going to let you go,” she sighed calmly for his words “What I want is for you to explain to me what it is this dendrotoxin that you talk about.”

It took him a week to find the courage to talk to her about something that wasn't his agenda and ask her to do simple tasks, it's just that it didn't feel right to show that he had no idea of half of what he was doing when he had always shown himself to be an intelligent man.

“It was just one idea, to achieve instant paralysis”

“It’s a good idea”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I'd like you to talk to me more about that, Jemma”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like it, I try to explain more about Fitz and that’s why I did the jump in time. I want to let in clear that I don’t justify him being an asshole with Jemma just because he has issues  
> In this point I’m writing the most part of it with my imagination and just include a few elements from the telenovela, but the rest of it, it’s all me so I hope you like it 
> 
> I would love to know what do you think about the chapter! So if you want let a comment I will be happy to read and answer to you. Plus, I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I don’t know how to use it at all but I will be trying to be active in there


	8. You’re leaving out of the truth (part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some commentaries about Jemma´s look, not from Fitz but they are in there.
> 
> I realise that in the last chapter I didn’t edit something, it supposed to say “one week later” and for some reason I put “in the afternoon”. So, the start of this chapter is set later after the end of the chapter 7, which it’s one week after Fitz official appointment (I don’t know if I explain myself good)

Jemma opened the door of her house and come in, it was later than she expected when she finished talking to The Doctor, both had been talking hotly about the correct formula of dendrotoxin to achieve instant paralysis of and although she had insisted that she wasn't Hermione and couldn't just devise a compound that paralyzes an individual to contact,The Doctor was very insistent.

"It's late"

Jemma jumped when she heard her mother's voice from the living room, she expected both of her parents to be asleep since the hour it was but she also had to imagine that her mother would be waiting for her, it wasn't common for her to arrive so late.

"I'm sorry, mom, it's just that... I have tons of work and I couldn't finish soon enough"

"It's not right for a lady to be on the street at this time of night"

"I'm sorry, I'll try to come home earlier," she smiled at her and took off the glasses "I'll go to my room, it was an exhausting day. Good night"

"Good night"

She got into her room and threw her bag into the sofa before falling into bed, she felt incredibly tired and only needed a couple of hours of sleep, with the appointment of The Doctor she had the triple of work and fortunately she would have the Sunday to rest.

Jemma hadn't have the opportunity to reflect on her new work, she had been so busy that she didn't even have the time to get lost in her thoughts and analyze her current situation. It is not that Jemma wasn't happy with her new work, in fact she was grateful to be working in an organization as important as Hydra, they were the ones who governed the world and working with them was an honor, all the most important scientific advances came from them and any scientist would kill for working with them.

Except that she wasn't there as a scientist, she hadn't carried out any scientific activity so far. Being honest, she didn't care at all, she had entered as an assistant because she wanted to have experience and as she could show her skills to move forward. She had started tonight, hoping that the Doctor would realize her experience as a biochemistry and that her ph.D weren't just unimportant titles.

She got up from bed and approached her desk to do some calculations, maybe she could make a breakthrough on dendrotoxin by Monday. The Doctor would be very satisfied with her work.

_____

Jemma arrived early as usual, went through the routine review and went up to the top floor to start organizing her closet. She met Bobbi on the way and Jemma feared very seriously that she wanted to talk to her, is not that Bobbi was unpleasant but Jemma was very shy to try to talk to her.

"Jemma, good morning" stopped and smiled at her.

"Hello" tried to smile and rolled her hair on her finger in a gesture of nervousness.

"Hey, I was thinking, Daisy, Elena and I have seen that you also eat in Hydra's dining room and we were thinking about inviting you with us this afternoon. We eat more or less at the same time and we could get to know each other better"

"Oh" She was surprised with the proposal "It would be... it would be great" she cleared her throat "Yes, it sounds interesting" tried to smile but she wasn't sure it went well "I'm flattered, actually. Um... At that time will we meet?

"Is it all right at 3:00 pm?"

"Yes, it'll be fine"

"See you at that time" smiled "Have a good day"

"Same for you"

Jemma continued her way to the office and then to her closet, she really didn't expect her day to start that way, she had never been making friends so it was strange to be invited to sit with a group at lunch time.

She started making the tea cup she usually made to Doctor Fitz every morning, at this point she knew how much sugar he liked in her tea and the hot it had to have. Jemma left the cup of tea on his desk along with a summary of his activities for the week, he would have to arrive in about two minutes and she refined the details for her arrival.

"Good morning, Jenna"

"Good morning, doctor," she said with a smile even though he didn't see her, he was with his eyes fixed in a magazine "And it is Jemma, sir"

"Of course, Jemma, how could I forget it? I was remembering" sat in front of his desk and Jemma was surprised when she saw him murmuring her name.

"What do you need me to do, Doctor?"

"I want you to go to the communication area and deliver this order to Sunil Bakshi, I want him to include it on today's news"

"Of course" she took the yellow folder that The Doctor gave her.

"And then you will write for the science area, a document in which you will address the science director and instruct him to initiate the vaccine against the inhuman gene."

Yes, she was going to have a very bad moment while she write that document, as a biologist, felt that she exceeded many of the limits of ethics just for daring to write that document. She knew that Hydra was working with really dark things, they didn't have the world order just for their good actions, but now that she had access to a part of the administration she felt a little strange being a direct accomplice to such acts.

Jemma took the document and left the office to go to the communications area, she really had no idea where it was, she hadn't travelled the building beyond the administration area and cafeteria. She was mainly uncomfortable taking a walk through The Triskelion, felt that she broke with all the elegant and gloomy appearance of the organization, felt like if she was a kind of ugly duckling in the place and didn't like to feel the gaze on her, so in a way she preferred to stay in her closet and suppress her curiosity to go to know the place.

She came to a recording studio, she felt very out of place, here there were people who were far from what she was. Jemma felt small along with these people full of trust, sociable and beautiful, it was strange to be surrounded by them when she preferred to be alone.

"Hey, excuse me" approached a tall blonde woman "Where I can find Mr. Bakshi?"

"It's there," she said, pointing out the cabin, then turning with indifference and ignoring her.

Jemma moved among the people to get to the cabin, in there was Ophelia and she was talking to a man lower than she who seemed to be absolutely impeccable, he was the stereotype of the guy in the news and Jemma felt a little intimidated for approaching them.

"Mr Bakshi" murmured "Excuse me"

Bakshi turned around, threw a look of contempt when he saw her, Jemma felt uncomfortable, he saw her as if her presence made him feel disgustful.

"God, what kind of aberration is this?" Ophelia made fun of what he said and nodded.

"It's Leopold's new assistant," she said with contempt.

"Did he prefer that thing than Veronica?" he said as if she wasn't there "I thought he had better tastes"

"Veronica and I believe that he has a crisis of fidelity"

"What do you want here?" He said with a tint of disgust in his voice.

"The Doctor told me to give you this," she gave him the envelope "He said that he wants you to include it in today's program" she raised the glasses that had slipped in the middle of her nose bridge and tried to put a nice face.

"I can't believe that he's making me through this, hurt my sight with such a creature like this."

Jemma felt a pain at words, but she simply decided to ignore it.

_____

The Doctor had gone to a meeting with the council, she had finished writing the science paper and would take it after lunch time.

She was nervous, during school she had not been invited by her colleagues to sit with them at lunchtime and in Cybertek she had not made any connection with absolutely anyone in the company, not even had a cordial relationship with the security staff who did a review every day before and after work. Not to mention the large number of negative comments that she heard about it. In Cybertek, Jemma had accumulated so much pain in her soul that her music box was almost full.

Fearing that everything would be a bad joke and that these women would just want to mock at her, she went quite fearfully to Hydra's dining room; she asked for her food and tried to be discreet while looking for Bobbi and her friends, she took a surprise when she saw Bobbi making a sign to her to approach their table.

"Hello" Bobbi received her with a smile "We thought you wouldn't come"

"I'm sorry, it's... I have a lot of work"

“I can imagine, the Doctor must want everything to be absolutely perfect," said Daisy "You must be having a bad time, isn't it?"

"It's not so bad, he is cold and stubborn, but he isn't that bad"

"Let us change the subject better," Elena said with a smile.

Jemma was surprised by how quickly the girls included her in the conversation, they spoke indelibly about any subject (she was very reserved, her mom had told her more than once that a lady couldn't let know her intimacies) and no matter that she was almost unknown for them, as well as they were always friendly listening to her comments and didn't allow her to step aside.

For the first time in years (maybe for the first time in her whole life) she felt part of something.

_____

Jemma returned from food hour with a smile, she had spent a long and great time talking to Elena, Daisy and Bobbi.

At the reception, Verónica was talking to Ophelia, they seemed to be arguing but also trying to be quiet, Veronica seemed to try to defend herself from Ophelia's comments, it was as if she was demanding something. Jemma tried to go unnoticed, but as soon as she passed by their side, Veronica pointed her and Ophelia immediately threw a look at her. Jemma quickly went to her closet, she didn't want to get in trouble, definitely she didn't want to end up involved in the conflict that they had and it was better for her to continue doing her work.

"Hey"

Jemma knew everything had gone to the ground as soon as Ophelia comes in into the closer, she had no idea what she had done but because of the look that she had, Jemma knew it wasn't a good thing. She stood up awkwardly and tried to relax.

"Can I help you with anything?"

"Look, girl, if you want to keep your job then it's better for you to be my ally."

"I'm sorry, I don't think I understand"

"I know that Leopold has given you his personal agenda. I need it, there's a contact that I need."

Jemma remember what the Doctor had told her, she couldn't give anyone the information that was on the agenda.

"I'm not authorized to give you that information, I'm sorry"

Jemma was scared when she saw her expression. Even when Ophelia imposed and scared her, she couldn't go against her boss's orders. Besides, she knew that it wasn't in the best interest of her boss that Ophelia would see his agenda; honestly, it started because she was curious, she thought it was prudent to know about her boss's contacts if she wanted to improve her efficiency, but she didn't imagine that that agenda was a catalog of every woman that she he been with, it contains dates, numbers, places and names.

Jemma didn't agree with her boss's attitude, but she had been hired to assist him and not to judge him.

"I told you that I need a contact on that agenda, I know Leopold gave it to you and now I need you to give it to me"

"If you tell me what contact you need, then I can look for you"

"I gave you an order"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, what a ride. I hope you like it, this chapter is based in one of the chapters of the telenovela and the next one will continue with that line 
> 
> Also I want you to notice something, the only four people who said that Jemma is ugly is Ophelia, Veronica, Bakshi and Jemma the rest of the characters think about her like a woman who is trying to do her best attempt to look bad and they don´t understand why. 
> 
> I have a tumblr account, I’m taking prompts for new fan fics http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	9. You’re leaving out of the truth (part 2).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get complicated, Jemma is against her back and wall, for the first time she has to cover up her boss's actions. Ophelia knows that she doesn't have an ally in Jemma and looks for a way to get her out of the equation to have Veronica spying on Leopold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry for the delay, I hope you enjoy reading this.

“The Doctor told me not to share the agenda with anyone. It was also an order.” she was trembling but tried to stand firm “I’m sorry, but I can’t do it.”   
  


She was nervous while waiting for Ophelia's reaction, her legs felt like gelatin. Ophelia gave her a blatant look and then a smile, she had no idea what it meant but she knew that she had got into a problem.  
  


“Alright. I guess I try to warn you. Here, I am one of the most important partners in Hydra, my orders are the law.”

Without saying more, Ophelia turned around elegantly and left her closet. Jemma hoped that her revenge wouldn’t be too hard.

_____

Fitz had told Jane that he would go to a board after that he had a call from Amanda, she was one of her most insistent lovers that he has and threatened to make a scandal and tell Ophelia about the relationship that they had if he wasn't going to talk with her.

That morning, his engagement with Ophelia was published in one of the social magazines and Amanda had gone to claim him. He wish all his lovers were like Judy, she knew what the terms of their relationship were and respected the limits. Amanda, well... She was too intense.

Leopold was trying to convince her that both of them would take their way and continue their lives but she was too persistent. At least he was until he received a call, it was the number of Hydra and he really didn’t understand why he was receiving a call from the company.

“Don’t you dare to answer!”

“It’s from the office! Just give me a moment” he pressed the green button and unwillingly answer “Yes?”

“Doctor Fitz...”

“Jane?”

“Jemma”

“I don’t care!” He tried to control his temperament but the situation with Amanda was surpassing him “What happens? I told you that I was on a board.”

“It’s just... Your girlfriend asked me for your personal agenda, she told me that he she need a very important contact...”

“Tell me that you don’t give it to her!” Ophelia with his agenda would be an absolute disaster.

“Of course not”

“Thank God” sighed relieved “What is the problem then?”

“Huh... I hope you won’t get angry with me but... She went out and stayed in your office, she was talking with Verónica and I may have heard something about their conversation.”

“Go to the point!”

“I hear Veronica saying that she was sure that she had seen a woman, eh... Amanda? I think it's Amanda”

“Yes, yes, what else?”

“And your girlfriend said that they needed access to the agenda, that she was going to find it and make you pay if she found you with her.”

“As long as you don’t give her the agenda...” he received another call “Give me a moment, she’s calling me”

__________

Jemma knew she was getting into trouble, more than she already had, but when she listened to the conversation she simply couldn't help but feel the urge to warn The Doctor.

She had won an enemy just for follow the order that her boss gave her.

Jemma try to relax and continue with her work, she had done everything The Doctor had asked her and had no reason to feel guilty or worry about losing her job. Unless... She knew that The Doctor did everything Ophelia said and if she spoke ill of her... God, she was going to lose her job.

Jemma felt her hand trembled when she heard the phone sound and in the identifier read the name of The Doctor, it have passed at least five minutes since she hung the call with him.

“Hello?” She asked with the trembling voice

“Jane, listen, I need help. I need you to help me”

“Of course”

“I am not in a meeting as I said, I am solving a situation”

"Tell me what you need me to do, Doctor."

“Tell her that I am...”

“Games are over, I need the agenda” she stood out when she heard Ophelia’s voice “Who are you talking to?”

“Jenny? What was that?” She didn't know what to say, she had always been a terrible liar “Jenny? Is Ophelia there?”

“Yes” responded tense.

"Shit, don't tell her it's me, did you understand me?"

“Of course”

“Who are you talking to? Is it Leopold?”

“Can you repeat me your name?” She took a paper and a pen to try to keep the lie.

"Tell her... Tell her it's... Shit, I can't think of anything."

“As I told you, Doctor Fitz is not here in this moment, you want me to tell him something?”

"Tell her that you're talking to Darren Cross and that he wants us to talk about a Yellowjacket army."

“Darren Cross, yes, I'll tell him to contact you. I'm sure he'll be very interested in the Yellowjacket project”

“I’ll be back in a few minutes. You can’t give her agenda under any reason, Jean”

“Jemma, you’re talking with Jemma, I’m the assistant of Doctor Fitz”

“Honestly? We're in a situation of life or death and you... Ok, you know, yes, you're right. Hell, I'll write it down in a post it”

“See you later, Mr. Cross, have a good day.”

She hoped she had been convincing, she had always been a terrible liar. The worst liar, actually.

“I need the agenda”

“I can't give it to you. I have strict orders from The Doctor so that I don't give it to anyone and I don't want to get in trouble."

“It seems that you don’t understand who I am in this place”

"I'm sorry, I'm just doing my job"

Ophelia threw a last look at her before she left. Jemma sigh relieved because at least for now the drama was over, she only expected that covering up his boss to go with his lover wouldn’t become a routine.

__________

Jemma went out to the wc, she was surprised when she found Elena, Bobbi and Daisy in there.

“Hello” she said with a smile.

“Oh, Jemma, it’s good to see you,” said Daisy, “Hurry, you must listen this.”

She didn’t know what the conversation was about or how long they had been there before she entered, but she followed her orders and rushed in the toilet and washing her hands.

“Well, I was telling you,” Bobbi said when Jemma timidly stood by her side, “Hunter is an idiot, but sometimes he can be a useful idiot.”

“Hunter is Doctor Fitz’s friend?” She still didn't know that much of The Doctor's personal circle.

“Yes, he is. He's his friend, they're together all the time," Daisy said, "That's why Ophelia hates him so much, Hunter hides Doctor’s lovers. And she hasn’t been able to pull him out, all her efforts to get him out of Hydra have failed.”

“Can she do that?”

“Jemma is new, she doesn’t fully understand hierarchies here,” Elena said.

“Oh, yes. Let me explain you” Bobbi was recharged on the wall and put herself comfortable “It is like a survival guide for Hydra. You know The Doctor as Hydra's head, that's what everyone sees and what they want the world to see and know.”

“But things aren’t in that way. They show what people want to see. And don't misunderstand us, it's not that The Doctor is weak, hell no, he's a bastard," Daisy said.

“The devil gave him birth,” said Elena.

“He is cruel and ruthless, but he is not as bad as Ophelia or his father. You see, from before he was named Hydra’s head, his decisions were manipulated by any of them.” Bobbi seemed to be thinking how to explain the situation to her “Once we have said this. For the public, the Doctor represents Hydra and all his interests, is the voice of the council. Here, in theory, there are official command levels.”

“There's The Doctor, then Ophelia, followed by the bosses of each division. In theory, five important voices.”

“But it’s not five,” said Elena, following Daisy’s idea. “The division leaders have no voice or vote. Bakshi, the communications boss is in everything and practically directs all three divisions.”

”Ophelia leads Bakshi, he is her puppet. So she leads communications, science and operations. And as for the management of the entire company,The Doctor has been manipulated by his father and by Ophelia since he was in the engineering division. And the Doctor's father has a blind faith in Ophelia. So in general terms..."

“Ophelia controls everything” Jemma concluded Bobbi’s idea.

“Exactly”

“Oh dear...”

“Now that we have all this, you'll understand that anyone out of her control makes her crazy and that's why she hates Hunter. She was crazy when she knew that Leopold chose him as vice president,” Daisy said, without notice of her expression of fear.

“And we can’t blame her, Hunter is an idiot. He do all by impulse. Do you have any idea how many missions he have ruined?"

“Go to the point, Bobbi,” Elena said, “Jemma, what’s going on?”

“You seem to have seen a ghost,” Daisy said.

“Just... Suppose someone didn’t fully follow her orders” swallowed saliva “But for a justified reason...”

“Oh fuck, what did you do to her?” Daisy asked quickly.

“I had no idea... I... The Doctor told me to never deliver his personal agenda, that only he and I could know what was inside and... She came to ask me for the agenda and I told her that I couldn’t give it to her and I didn’t do it.” The three women saw her with horror.

“Forget Hunter,” Elena said.

"Damn, I like you"

“Daisy!” Bobbi scolded her.

“I’m being honest”

“I didn’t want the Doctor to be mad with me, I like to follow the rules and that seemed to be an important rule for being a good assistant.”

“Best The Doctor than Ophelia” said Daisy.

“Why did she want the agenda for?”

“She said she wanted a contact but... There was nothing that Hydra cares about in there”

“We’re going to be optimistic, maybe she’s only going to be against her for a few days,” Elena said.

Jemma was scared, really scared, she didn't need enemies.

“Hey, relax. Everything will be fine,” Bobbi said with a smile “We’re going to dinner tonight, why don’t you come? We'll talk about Hunter”

“Really? Are you inviting me to go out of work with you?”

“Of course, you are nice”

Jemma said goodbye to them with a promise to see them at night, if she has to be honest, the invitation raised her spirit. All the people she have met so far only spoke to her on work, except for... Well, that didn't matter now.

When she comes into the office, she feel confused for her seeing Ophelia, Veronica and Michael waiting for her, her breathing stopped and her legs trembled.

“Can I help you with something?”

“Michael” Ophelia said in order.

Michael extended a letter to her, Jemma approached hesitant and took the letter, her hands trembled as she opened it, inside there was a dismissal letter and she didn’t avoid the little gasp of surprise. Ophelia and Veronica seemed pleased.

“Am I fired?”

“Leave your post immediately and give everything to Veronica,” Ophelia said.

“But... Can I at least wait for The Doctor?”

“Don't you understand? You’re fired. Veronica, make sure she gives you everything.”

“But Doctor Fitz gave me the order not to give..."

“Ok, let me explain you, you are fired. You don’t have to follow orders from The Doctor because you’re no longer works here.” Michael passed by her side with a mockery smile and left.

"Yes, but The Doctor was the one who hired me, he should..."

“Hey, you weren’t hired by the Doctor, he is not paying your salary from this own and you don’t have a personal contract. You have a contract with this company and this company is firing you. So don't insist, I don't want to call security”

“Yes, ma’am”

Jemma dragged her feet into the closet, now she would have to go through the long task of looking for a job again. And she was very upset because she didn't have the opportunity to explain to The Doctor.

She was collecting her belongings when Veronica comes into the closet.

“Give me the agenda. Everything related to Hydra, in fact, but first the agenda”

“The agenda...”

She still had a little impulse to protect the agenda, pretended to be looking for it even though she knew it was hidden in the middle of a large folder of old files. She couldn't lose any more, she wasn't working here any more.

“Good afternoon” she heard his boss’s Scottish accent, and she was strangely hopeful. There were a couple of seconds in silence, maybe it wasn’t even a minute but for Jemma it was an eternity “Veronica!” The woman in question jumped “Veronica, leave that office at this moment! And you Jena, don't give her anything!”

Jemma sighed relieved watching Veronica leave her closet, she comes close to the door and heard what The Doctor and Ophelia were saying.

“What is happening here?”

“I asked for your personal agenda because I needed a number and she didn’t want to give it to me. She goes against my orders.”

“If I gave her an order then she has to follow it and she has to go against everything and everyone. It includes you. And I don't see the reason why you have to come here to give orders and fire people.”

“She has to respect me. Not only am I Hydra's board representative and shareholder, but I'm also your girlfriend. In any point of view, she has to respect me and obey me.”

“That's what you're wrong about, you can be whoever you want, but if I give her an order then she do it. You have no right to come and impose on my office. Respect my office and respect my position. Don’t confuse things.”

“Jenna, what are you doing?”

“They gave me the letter, doctor,” she said, The Doctor took it and analyzed it “Jena, can you do me one last favor?”

“Of course, doctor”

“Communicate me with Michael of administration”

“Immediately” she took the phone and dialled the maintenance number “Hello? Im from presidency, Dr. Fitz wants to talk to you."

She gave the phone to The Doctor and she continue keeping her things. She was a little sad, it had been a while since she felt part of something and it was only for a tiny moment.

“Michael, who signed the order to fired miss...” he saw her again, Jemma was about to say her name “No, don’t tell me” he whispered and he took a moment for thinking “Jemma?”

“Jemma” confirmed with a smile.

“Jemma” said aloud “Who authorised it?” There was a moment of silence in what Jemma assumed that Michael’s answer “Do you know who I am, Michael?” She continued to keep her stuff, but stopped when she heard him scream “Well it seems you doesn’t know! But believe me you’re gonna know. No person has the right to fired anyone without my consent, much less if that person works in the higher levels. I am the head of this company, if you or anyone else tries to pass over my orders then believe me that you're going to regret it."

Jemma felt a little intimidated by how he dropped the phone at the base, she knew that he was a man without patience but his burns of anger scares her.

“Sir?”

“Continue your work, you will go nowhere”

“I still have my job?”

“Of course, I can’t lose such an efficient woman”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! What do you think? You like it? In this case, this chapter was almost completely based on the telenovela, the thing with the agenda and Betty being fired really happens in one of the first chapters. And I want you to know something; in the telenovela, Marcela (girlfriend of Armando, Ophelia in this work) isn’t the villain in the telenovela and actually she’s one of the victims but I can feel Ophelia in that way
> 
> I have a tumblr account, I’m taking prompts for new fan fics http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	10. You’re leaving out of the truth (part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the success of the last chapters and also closing the first part of this fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m so happy for sharing this chapter with you, it was a little hard to write because I take a lot of elements of the telenovela and I tried to adapt it to this universe. It’s a very long chapter. 
> 
> Also, friendly reminder that English isn’t my first language and I don’t have a beta, so all the mistakes are mine 
> 
> I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!

“Really?!” Hunter mocked while he was talking with Leopold about the events of the day. “Shit, Ophelia saying?”

“She must be angry with me. I can hardly imagine what she'll do to me when we're alone.”

“Buddy, you did a drama for something, No! Even worse, someone unimportant. Ophelia won't forgive you this."

“What she was doing was unfair. Ophelia was trying to fired her for nothing, she was jut acting like a little girl.”

“And when did you care about that?”

Well, Hunter had a good point, in fact. Ophelia was terrible, she had done much harm for less than Jemma did and he had never intervened in her decisions, actually he didn’t understand why this time he stood so firm, maybe because simply it didn’t feel right to allow an innocent person to lose his job because of Ophelia's whims.

“I don’t even think it was worth it,” said Hunter taking one of his pens and turning it on his fingers “You’re not going to get anything in return and even if she offered you something in return, she’s not... Well, she’s not attractive. If it had been Allyn or Angie, maybe Amanda, then it would have been worth it.”

“Hell, no. Allyn was... Too sentimental. Angie was good until the end but that’s all. And Amanda... Well, Amanda was really good at first but she's as pretty as she's crazy.”

“My friend, there are thousands of women as your assistant, there are thousands of unpleasant women. But someone like them or Ophelia... Well, they seem to be in extinction. I don't think it was worth defending the ugly duckling, you could have another one of them tomorrow."

“And where do you think I will find another woman who is willing to go against Ophelia’s orders?”

“You have a point, the girl has courage”

“And that’s why it was worth it, I’m not going to find anyone else willing to face Ophelia the way my assistant did it.”

“I hope that she don’t expect anything in return”

“There are women who are not only looking to sleep with you, do you know that?”

“Who are you and what have you done to my friend?”

“Can we talk about something else? At least for today, I don't want to know anything else about women.”

“That’s a shame, because Bobbi...”

“No again...” he murmured and resigned himself to listening to Hunter talk about Bobbi for centuries.

__________

Jemma felt relieved, her whole day had taken a completely different course after what happened with Ophelia, her boss had barely given her some task after the incident, she had almost all afternoon off to continue working on a formula for dendrotoxin that would make the weapon a success.

It was about six thirty in the afternoon when The Doctor comes into the closet with a folder in his hand.

“Jenna. No, no, Jemma. Anyway” left the folder on his desk “Do you remember the night night gun?”

“That’s the name?” She wrinkled her nose.

“Yes. I have wrote all the details about the design of the bullets, also I add all failed tests of the dosis”

“Oh, do you want me to continue working with you on that project?”

“Of course, for the first time in years there is progress”

“Thank you for trust in me,” he said with a smile “Do you need anything else?”

“No, we are free for now. Jemma, this is just something we both know and I want it to stay like this.”

“Of course”

The Doctor went out and left her alone. Jemma opened the folder and started browsing, fascinated with the design of the weapon and bullets, she was more specialized in the area of biochemistry but she knew how to appreciate the elegance in the design of machinery, Jemma had basic knowledge about engineering and she can understood much of what she was reading. Jemma was very focused reading what The Doctor had given her and writing quickly notes about what she could improve and her ideas to add to the weapon, when she realised it was already late and time to leave work it was when she only have five minutes to find the girls, she was excited to go to dinner with Bobbi, Elena and Daisy and was about to run out when she remembered that she hadn’t asked her parents for permission.

Her mother had always been very strict, she wanted her to be an appropriate English lady and an the best student, her father followed what her mother ordered so she was the dominant voice in her family. The parties until the early morning weren’t appropriate for a lady, according to the rules of her mother.

She call the number of the phone of her house, knowing that her parents should already be at home and that with both of them together, her father could persuade her mother.

“Hi,” she said happily when her father answered the call.

“Hi, Jemma” said with the same tone “What’s going on? Are you on your way to home?”

“Hey, I didn’t... Actually, I wanted to ask you for your permission to go to dinner with some friends?”

“Dinner? Honey, you're over twenty years old, you should just go out and have fun."

“Well, Mom...”

“I’ll talk to her, you can go with your friends. Actually, I'm glad that you have friends, when you come back you'll talk to me about them.”

“Of course”

“Be careful and don’t worry about the hour, have fun”

“Thank you, Dad”

She was very excited and happy, she had never gone out with friends. She picked up her things and made sure that the agenda was saved in a safe place, kept the folder with the weapon's specifications and notes in her bag and the goal plan for The Doctor's first year of government left it on her desk.

"Doctor, it’s my time to go"

“Of course, Jemma” he remarked her name and then showed her a post it that was stuck in the frame of his computer with her name in capital letters “Good night”

“Good night, Doctor” she said with a big and satisfying smile.

She felt a little optimism rising up her chest after seeing her name written in a post it so in that way he can remember her name. It was stupid to feel that way but she had never been someone to remember, usually no one even took her into account enough to learn her name.

When she got out of the whole security check, she met the three girls at Hydra's entrance and they smiled at her when they saw her. They took an uber that Daisy asked, Jemma was laughing all the way to the restaurant.

__________

Ophelia was waiting for Leopold to leave the office, she invented that she had to work on The Framework to present a progress report to Whitehall. Leopold didn’t make too many questions, he told her that he would go to dinner with Hunter and that was all the explanation that she needed to know that they were in a bar meeting women again.

That was going to end when she got that goddamn agenda and finally could know where and with whom he was at every moment of the day. No more lovers. He was going to regret it if he tried to cheating on her.

Veronica met her in the presidency after most of the people leave the office, they managed to come into Leopold’s office, and Ophelia turned off the security cameras so there wasn’t going to be any evidence of their intrusion.

“Why do we have to do this? We could simply wait for the right time to attack the ugly duckling or win her trust.”

“Leopold defended her, she is on his side and now that she has his protection she will feel safe enough to deny me the stupid agenda”

Both managed to get into the closet without any incident, while Ophelia was more than determined to look for the agenda, Veronica was thinking about how fools they were being. Ophelia was searching in the bookseller and in the archive, the agenda had to be somewhere, he knew that Leopold wouldn’t allow her to take it to her house so she was very sure that it was somewhere in this office.

“Ophelia, I don’t think we’ll find it,” Veronica told her after a while.

“Shut up and keep looking”

“We are wasting time! I told you, you just need to threaten her enough.”

Ophelia ignored her and went to look in the drawers, she had to find it. She was surprised when she was looking between papers and found the old plane of the night night gun, it had been years since she saw something about that gun and she didn’t understand why she had it.

“You found it?” Veronica asked.

"No, but... I don't understand why she has this."

“What is this?”

“It’s one of Leopold’s old prototypes, he left it years ago because he couldn’t find the right formula for instant paralysis.”

“You found the agenda?”

“No,” she said while Ophelia was reviewing the papers, she saw notes that hadn’t been made by Leopold and that resolved the paralyser’s issue.

“Then let's go. We need another plan, it must have taken the agenda to her home.”

“Actually, I have another idea”

“What idea?”

“You are going to win all Leopold’a trust. And we'll make Leopold lose his trust in her. You have to have access to his whole life, that's the only way I can control it."

“Honey, he barely gives me a major task, it is only his social life with the company. My position would have to be called an event organizer.”

“Well, now you're going to try hard. Starting with this,” he said, “I want you to write a proposal”

“Me?! I am not a scientist.”

“No, but I am sure that six semesters of laws will be enough to draft a proposal. You will tell him that you read an article and that you have always been interested in science, you told me about it, and I told you about the weapon, you made a proposal and you think you found the solution,” she told her by giving her the papers.

“It’s much easier to threaten her,” she said, complaining and following in her footsteps to leave the office.

__________

Jemma had no idea that the gossip could be so fun, the three hours she was with Bobbi, Elena and Daisy at the restaurant was maybe the best hours of her life and she was pretty sure that she have never laugh that hard before. She felt happiness in the most purest state in her chest all the way in the car, during dinner and in the end of the dinner, it was a blow of energy that she never imagined to feel; maybe that is why she had no friends before, she had to come to the moment and the exact people to be able to feel this.

Bobbi and Elena went to the bathroom, she stayed alone with Daisy taking the latest of their coffees. She had been working out a whole plan since the afternoon where the whole thing happen with Ophelia and having a moment alone with Daisy was giving her the perfect opportunity.

“You’re amazing, why are you so shy?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’ve always been like this,” she said a little shy “Daisy, you’re a hacker, right?”

“Yes, I am. And it's not for nothing, but I'm a very good one.”

“That's great” she smiled and returned to the same shy position “I need you to teach me something”

“Of course, what do you need?”

“I want to learn how to encrypt a file”

“Wow, Jemma Simmons is involved in bad girl shenanigans”

“Something like that,” he said with a grim “I need for work”

“Ok, I can teach you. Although you could just give me the file and do all the hard work for you, I just give you the password and that’s all”

“Oh no, no, I want to learn”

“Ok, we'll spend more time together and I’ll get to know you better. See me tomorrow at the end of the day, we'll go to my house and I show you with something easy.”

“Thank you”

Jemma was sure that the agenda incident would be forgotten and wouldn’t happen again once the agenda disappeared and then it will be perfectly hidden. She was very efficient.

After dividing the bill, they left the restaurant and took a taxi, Jemma was the first to get home and said goodbye to them with a final smile and thanks for such a fun night.

When she comes into her house, she found her father waiting for her in the living room and she felt a little bad for arriving so late.

“Jemma! It's so nice that you're here," he said with a big smile.

“Daddy, you should be resting”

"No, I promised your mother I'd wait for you."

“You shouldn’t”

“It was a pleasure, daughter,” he said with a smile and stood up from the armchair, “How did it go? Talk to me about these friends of yours.

“It was... It was great, they are great and I have a great time”

“Where did you go?”

“Only for dinner but time passed very fast”

“That's great, I’m happy that you have friends. Jemma, you never go out to have fun, it's your time to go out and just have fun with you friends” he gave her a little smile.

“I’m going to my room, I have to do some things of work and then go to sleep”

“Tomorrow you will talk to me in detail about these friends of yours”

“Of course. Good night”

“Good night, daughter”

Jemma went to her room, had to finish some calculations for the night night weapon and then make an advance of the weekly summary of activity in operations. She took the papers out of her bag and sit in front of her desk to start, she was quite motivated after the excellent way she closed her day, until she realized that she had taken the wrong papers and instead took home a copy of The Doctor's winning proposal, the complete and detailed report that she hadn’t yet finished reading because she feel bothered about everything it contained.

“Great” sighed annoying, now she couldn’t have the formula for tomorrow in the first hour of morning, she had a good memory but she wasn’t going to remember all the notes she made “Well, let's see the positive side”

She spent all night reading all the details for the first year of The Doctor Fitz’s work as the head of Hydra, there were interesting proposals such as watchful drones but there were other things that honestly put her chicken skin, like the experimentation with inhuman. Jemma was making notes on what she was reading because there were some mistakes that wouldn’t let the goals from being fully met in a year.

It was four in the morning when she decided that she had to leave the subject for a moment and try to be at least two hours sleepy. She had written a plan with the corrections so that The Doctor could meet all his goals during the first year and she would give it to him early.

__________

Leopold comes into his office quite early, much more than usual, all because in the early morning, while Katie (Katie or Kirsty?) was slept, he had been reviewing the summary that Janine... No, Jemma!, yes, the summary that Jemma had made about weekly activity in communications and realized that not everything was in accordance with his plan. He read again for a thousandth time his proposal for his first year as Hydra's head and compared it with the activity summaries of previous and the most recent years, realising that he had made some miscalculations.

Needless to say that he couldn't sleep while trying to find the mistake, he called Hunter at six in the morning to tell him that he wanted to see him an hour earlier in his office because they had to solve that inconvenience. He wasn't going to allow Grant Ward to take his position, he was much better than him in more than one sense and he wasn't going to let anyone to take away his job.

Hunter comes into his office dragging his feet, both had left the bar very late and Fitz was sure that he continues the party with that blonde girl. Neither of them had slept all night long.

“What’s going on?” He asked to Leopold with annoying on his voice.

“Well, we have a situation”

“What situation?”

“There are some... Well, there are some inconsistencies in my plan and we may not be able to meet all goals”

  
“No, you have to be kidding me”

“No, this is serious. Last night I was reading the summary of the activity in communications and then I found something strange. I was analyzing activity data from the last years and realized that increasing activity by 60% is almost impossible.”

"No, it's not impossible, otherwise the council would have say no to you."

“They were amazed by how fascinating it was to increase suffering by 60%”

“And what are you supposed to do? If you don't fulfil everything you promised in a year, Ward will take your position away.”

“No, that won’t happen, because today you and I are going to learn everything we need about economics and business administration to make a business plan.”

“What...? Are you... No, no, you're the genius and I can assure you that you barely understand anything about economics, you hate bureaucracy. Imagine me, I am not even a scientist.”

“It’s not an option, we have to do it, do you want to handle with Ward when he take off my work? It will be absolutely the worst”

“Well, enough motivation”

__________  
  


Jemma knew that her day was going to be absolutely terrible from the moment she got up terribly late to go to work and when she didn't find what was supposed to be a business plan; she hadn’t just corrected the mistakes in The Doctor's strategies, she had also investigated a lot about economics and found a way to draw up a business plan for her boss.

She had taken the first thing she found in her closet, so she ended up with a yellow tartan skirt to her knee, a pink blouse with blue flowers, a brown cardigan and red pantyhose, it was a mixture of prints and color. Her hands were shaking while trying to organise business plan papers, she had to reprint two copies because she failed to find those she had printed in the early morning.

  
It was already late so she quickly said goodbye to her parents and ran to go to the bus stop, she was so focused on arriving in time that she didn’t see the branch of a tree coming out of the pavement and that made her stumbled. She tempted the floor to look for her glasses and felt that her chest was oppressed when she found two broken pieces. 

“This is... Damn it” she put her glasses in the best way she could and kept the other part in her bag “Of all the days...”

When she got up, she noticed a pain in her knee and immediately looked for the origin, there was a hole in her pantyhose and a big scratch in her knee, there was even blood coming out and the beginning of a bruise in her pasty skin, but she could no longer delay more than she had already done.

It seemed that The Universe had been against her that morning, the bus went unbearably slow and it took her twenty minutes more than usual to get to her job. She was preparing psychologically to feel her boss’s fury over her.

__________

Leopold was going to kill Jean when she got here. It was more than eight in the morning and she still didn’t appear, she needed to get all the company's balance sheets of the last months and summarise all of Hydra's operation in the last month but she simply did not arrive.

They had been reading every book on economics and administration that Fitz could find on the Internet together with Hunter while trying to do the closest thing to a business plan.

“My head hurts with all the mathematics,” Hunter told him and then having more coffee, they had had more coffee in an hour than they had in months.

“Believe me, mine too. In engineering, we have mathematics in everywhere, but not this kind of it."

“How could you make so many mistakes?”

“They were not mistakes. Just... Unconvenants. Calculation mistakes”

“Calculation mistakes? I am almost sure that this is impossible.”

“I’m not going to give Ward the pleasure of see me being defeated,” he said, pointing him with a pencil.

“I understand, but how it is supposed...” before Hunter said something else, there was a slight blow to the door.

“Come in” he said with discomfort.

“Leopold!” and then he was listening to Veronica's squeaky voice.

“Veronica, it’s a miracle that you arrived this early”

“Well... I had something to show you,” she said swinging a folder.

“What is that?” He asked with false enthusiasm.  
  


“I have always been a science lover, I have read a lot of scientific articles along of my life and recently I found a fascinating one about dendrotoxins” now Veronica had his attention “I tell Ophelia about the subject and she told me about this weapon of yours...”

“Wait, what weapon?”

“Ah, Night Night? I think Ophelia said that, that was the name. Anyway, I think I could have a solution to your problem.”  
  


“What the hell...?” Leopold took the papers and began reading. Yes, she solved the problem almost by completely with the paralyser formula but he also didn’t understand how it was that she had in her hands his plans and notes “How did they get these papers?”

“Ophelia gave them to me”

“This was in my office, how the hell do you have them?”

“Ophelia had it, she had a copy and gave it to me after I told her about this article I’m talking about”

“You have six semesters of laws, how do you know about science?”

“Well... I’m a person who loves to learn,” she said with a nervous smile.

“Well, how is it that you, a person who has been without a chemistry class for more than ten years solved that? It's applied biochemistry, a rather complicated area of the science and I don't think a lawyer can solve it just with just a few scientific articles she read out of curiosity,” he dropped the folder on her desk “For the last time, where did you get them from?”

"Leopold, I'm telling you the truth"

Hunter was watching the whole show, he knew things were going to get serious when his friend pulled out his cell phone and made some moves before marking a number.

“Ophelia, I want you to come to my office at this moment,” he quickly said when there was an answer and then hung “And you, don’t move from here”

“My friend, you seem busy. I'll see you later,” Hunter said, and he got up to leave.

__________

Jemma was limping all the way from the stop until she comes to the presidential floor. Her knee really hurt and burned and once she managed to calm her boss's anger then she could take the time to clean the wound.

Her hand trembled when she touched the handle of The Doctor's door and had to give herself courage to cross the door. Maybe no one would realise that she has just come in because The Doctor and Ophelia were arguing hotly and Veronica saw with discomfort sitting in front of The Doctor's desk. Jemma didn’t know whether to run or try to go in disguise, analysed her possibilities and realised that it was her opportunity to disguise that it was late.   
  


Jemma silently come on the side and left the door just a little open, she couldn’t interrupt the moment by closing the heavy wooden door. She thought she was going to get to her closet but her mood fell completely when her boss shouted her name, (Well, it was a “Jane”, but he was still wrong with her name).

“Why did you arrive this late?!” he screamed at her and Jemma jumped, honestly, sometimes he scared her.

“Doctor...”

“Go to your workplace and start with the summaries! I'll fix accounts with you later”

“Yes, sir...”

She entered as fast as she could to her closet, her wound hurt, but like Elena said “El miedo no anda en burro”. She really didn’t fully understand the idea of that phrase but she had the general idea so that was enough, last night Jemma learned many expressions from each of the women. It wasn't time to think of phrases, she had problems and... It wasn't the time, because when the Doctor finish to talk with Ophelia, then he would go against her and the screams that Ophelia was receiving at this moment would go against her; what she had least to do at this time was to think of phrases with a moral learning, it is supposed her to be efficient and do what Doctor Fitz asked her to do if she wanted to keep her job.

The screams stopped, there were times when Ophelia was the dominant voice and a few in which Leopold was the dominant, but they were almost always shouting at the same time and it was impossible to understand what they said. The screams ended up, finally, they were speaking with their normal tone of voice. She stopped paying attention, Jemma had to hurry with what he asked her to do and also in her head she was already thinking about the explanation that she would give to The Doctor.

Jemma stood up awkwardly when her boss entered her office and saw her very coldly, she was surprised when she threw a folder on her desk.

“I want you to explain to me, how damed this came into the hands of Ophelia and Verónica”

“What?”

“Verónica came this morning, giving to me an impeccable report of how to achieve instant paralysis”

“Oh” she didn't really understand the context of what was happening, maybe that's why he was fighting with Ophelia.

“This was only in your office, and I want you to explain me right now how they had these papers,” he wasn’t shouting but the feeling he was giving to her remained just as threatening “Tell me!”

“I swear, I have no idea... Yesterday I left those papers on my desk... Doctor, I got confused last night and I took a copy of your proposal instead of the weapon, but I left it in my desk,” she said with the trembling voice “I swear it. It's here” she pointed out the exact drawer where she put the papers “Yesterday I had been making notes and corrections and when I finish, keep all my desk but accidentally mixed some documents and I ended up taking your work and left everything about the weapon here.”

“You are careless!”

“Doctor, I swear to you that I... I was... Yesterday I was writing down the details about dendrotoxin and I thought I would continue in my house because I got the right formula and I planned to tell you today about...” she was talking quickly, suddenly stopped.   
  


“Do you have any proof?” she can’t answer, she was very nervous “Do you have any idea what might happen if the things that we keep in this office comes out and falls into the wrong hands?! I told you that only the two of us could have access to this!"   
  


“I know, I know, that’s why I’ve tried to be very careful and I keep everything that you give me un order. I've even been thinking about learning how to encrypt files so that nothing leaves this office”

“What?”

“Sir, I know that it is careless to have these papers outside and I apologize for my neglect, I swear I didn’t want to cause you problems. I was thinking it would be much easier if absolutely everything is inside the computer and perfectly hidden under various security filters” 

“You have my attention. I often use these file methods because today anyone with a laptop is a hacker, despite the security filters. Besides that it has some charm being traditional”

“I know, but I won’t leave your files unprotected using a simple password. I was thinking of saving everything in a special cloud and encrypting it, which had all the security filters”  
  


“And how did you plan to do that?”

“Well, I need a little time to learn” she feel a little relieved because The Doctor seems to be that he wasn’t very angry, just a little angry but Jemma was learning that that was his natural state, actually “I’m sorry about the weapon and I understand if you think I’m not a trusted person and that you don’t need my services anymore, I should be more careful and not leave everything with the naked eye.”

“Why do you arrive this late?”

“As I told you, by mistake I took a copy of your proposal, last night I planned to finish adjusting some details about dendrotoxin and when I was planning to start I found your proposal. So I decided to finish reading it and I couldn’t help but realise a tiny problem with the budget.”

“How...? How did you realise that? I barely noticed it today.”

“I’ve been doing a very detailed follow-up of all the organisation movements in the last week and I got an idea of how difficult it would be to increase productivity by 60% with such a limited budget and with the activity that is commonly found here.”

“It took you all night and part of the morning to realise that?”

“No, it took me an hour. Actually spend all night reading books about economics and learning how to make a business plan” she looked in her bag and took out a folder “I fell asleep very late and it was too late when I get up, I know it’s not an excuse...”

“How did you...? Do you know about statistics?” he seem to be very impressed.

“I have a very basic knowledge of statistics, in biology we studied statistics and differential and integral calculus, I really didn’t know anything about mercantil calculus and economics but last night I was reading some books and I managed to understand at least half of what I read and apply it”

“At least half?”

“And apply it. I actually understood everything but it costs me a little work to apply it, that's why I say that I only understood and applied half.”

“Do you understand it in less than one night?” He said obviously surprised.

“I learn very fast”

“God, learning to encrypt is going to be like a child’s game for you” was surprised when she gave him the folder and began to read it “Did you really find the mistake?”

“Something like that. I'm not an economist and this is the first time I've met with this kind of mathematical problem.”

“I was willing to fire you but... This is incredible”

“I lost my job?” Now she was scared.

“I want you to read what Verónica gave me this morning and tell me if that’s what you had found to resolve the whole matter with the paralyser”

Jemma did what he asked her and took the folder to read quickly. She was annoyed as she read how Verónica stole her work and presented it as her, for God’s love, even had the value to include the notes she had written on the edge of the sheets and plans “Of course I did this.”

“Of course, a lawyer couldn’t solve this so easily”

“I still have my job?”

“Of course. I can't let you go, Jemma. You have just made the perfect formula of dendrotoxin and learned economics in one night, at this moment it is vitally that you stay close to me. Come on, we need to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it! I take very serious the slow burn, so be patience with me. 
> 
> I think that I find a way to update once per week at least, I’m sorry for the wait. 
> 
> I hope that you’re liking this work, I’m super excited writing this and happy for sharing it with you. Thank you so much for being here!
> 
> I have a tumblr account, I’m taking prompts for new fan fics http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	11. She’s a little shy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz gets closer to Jemma. She learns more about him and realise that maybe he is not that bastard, also, she is finding her place on Hydra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another chapter! Once again, we are taking a different way from the telenovela, there are elements but not that much

Leopold was honestly impressed, in an hour that he was reviewing Jemma Simmons’ business plan with her by his side, the woman practically gave him a class on economics and still had the humility to say that she understood only half of what they were doing.

For Hunter’s good luck, this woman existed and worked for him, thanks to her now Hunter wouldn’t have to become an economist in less than a day. Leopold used to believe that his mind worked quickly but Jemma Simmons left him far behind in the competition, it was something he would never admit in front of her or in front of anyone, but it was just something he couldn’t put aside in his mind.

  
“You would have to reduce costs,” she concluded after they revised Hydra’s financial statements “That you can hire more staff and invest in everything related to communication”

“So now we have to find a way to get everything necessary to adjust the science and operations budget”

  
“Well, science is definitely a problem to accelerate production because research takes time. As for operations, I think it is too risky to try to reduce costs, we could even put lives at risk. We can eliminate some unnecessary costs, such as maintaining this building.”

Fitz froze, it was the building to which they took the troublemakers, there was no information and it was just one more building of Hydra. He wasn't going to tell Jemma, it was classified and only senior officials had access to the information.

“No, look elsewhere”

“But...”

“It’s an order”

“Ok...” she took the papers and kept reading them. For some reason, Leopold look at her reading, it was a little fascinating how she analyzed the data. It was then when he noticed it, her glasses had only one of the temples and barely held on her little nose “What about this? It makes no sense to pay for the maintenance of this castle in England.”

Leopold didn’t understand either why they were paying for the maintenance of an old castle, once he asked to his father for that and his answer was that they have no reason to get involved in the business of the Malick family. He could be Hydra's head but he knew that he didn’t had access to everything in Hydra.

”Alright”

“Ok”

“Jemma” he waited for her to give him her approval, occasionally saying her name incorrectly and waited until she gave him an assent because he said her name in the right way “You are from England, aren’t you?”

He had heard her fancy accent on the few words he had exchanged with her since she came to work with him. He had noticed that her accent was more pronounced when she had talked to him about the night night gun or anything related with science.

“Yes,” she said with a little smile.

“That's great”

“And you are from Scotland, right?”

“Yes, have you ever been there?” Jemma closed the folder and saw him in the eyes.

“Once, when I was a child, we went on a family holiday to Perthshire”

“A beautiful place”

“Yes, a few years have passed but I remember it very clearly”

“You were in England the most part of your life, I mean... You studied on Oxford”

“Something like that. A few years ago, when I was nineteen, my parents got a new job here and we moved. We go to England once in the year”

“And you still having your accent”

“Of course. Like you, Doctor. You've been here longer, haven't you?”

”Yes, since I was eleven”

“I suppose you should go to Scotland frequently. I mean, if keep your accent”

“I haven’t really come back since we left,” she seemed hung up, in fact she seemed a little scared and speechless, her hands moved nervously trying to find something to do but she only became more clumsy because she pushed her glasses and threw them.

"Oh dear" she murmured.

The glasses fell on the table, in front of him, Leopold took them and observed them “What happened to them?” He asked by looking at the place where a part was missing.

“I... I fell on my way to the bus stop and I broke them”

“They aren’t broken, only... One of the screws came out,” he said, showing the piece intact “Do you have the other temple?”

"Yes, it’s in my office"

“Go for it”

Jemma stood up on the table and went to her office, Leopold looked in his drawer for his small tool case and the box with screws of different sizes, he was looking for what was necessary to re-fit Jemma's glasses while she was going for the missing piece.

“Here it is, Doctor”

“I’ll fix it in a minute”

Leopold was focused trying to adjust the parts and then turning the small screw, it’s been a while since he had the opportunity to handle small devices and it was comforting to reuse his hands even though they were just simple glasses.

“There it is,” he said, giving her the glasses “Like new”

“Thank you very much, Doctor”

“And what you were doing, Miss Jemma? Why do you stumble?”

“It was very late and I didn’t want to have problems,” she said very shy, which was quite common. Was it her natural state?

“Well, it was for a good cause,” he said, “You found the mistake and drew up a business plan despite the fact that your area of experience is far removed from administration and economics.”

“I just... I make a research”

“Humble” he sighed “Jemma, when we finish this, I’d like you to talk to me about the dendrotoxin”

“It will be a pleasure, I just have to make a few more notes and then it will be ready”

“Get me a list of the material you need to develop the dendrotoxin and I will see that it is available for use”

“Sir, do you want me to do it? Shouldn’t one of your lab employees do the job to do so?”

“You are a biochemist, aren’t you?” She nodded “And the person responsible for creating dendrotoxin, so believe me when I tell you that you’re the right one for do the job”

“I’m flattered”

“Make the list and when we have everything available, I will asked them to leave us a laboratory so that we can have privacy and work without anyone interrupting”

“Oh... That sounds... That will be nice”

”Until then, we should continue with this”

__________

The Doctor had gone out to eat along with his friend Hunter, which gave Jemma the perfect opportunity to finally go out into the bathroom and clean her wound properly, then she could go with the girls to Hydra's dining room.

She was obviously stumbling with each step, her skin was burning and the impact had left her muscles sensitive, it would pass a few days before the pain stopped and many more for the wound to heal completely. When she was in the bathroom, she left the medicine kit in the sink and reloaded against the wall to hold her weight while handling the wound; she tried to start but her hand trembled when she brought the alcohol-moistened cotton to her skin, it was an open wound and surely would burn her once the cotton came in touch.

“Are you okay?”

Jemma looked up when she heard the bathroom door being open, there was the woman who took her to her interview, the Asian woman with a hard and cold gaze.

“I... No, I’m fine”

“It’s an ugly cut, I can help you if you want it”

“In fact... Yes”

The woman approached her and took the cotton that had been in Jemma's hands. She complained a little when the alcohol came into contact with her skin, it burns too much.   
  


“You’re the Doctor’s new assistant, right?”

"Yes, I'm Jemma"

“May”

“Nice to meet you” it was evident that May was trying to distract her to hold the pain.

"Daisy talk me about you"

“Really? Do you know Daisy?”

“Almost everyone knows Daisy”

“It makes sense” she gasp when May sprinkled antiseptic in her wound “I really hardly know Daisy”

“It seems like you like her, she said she will teach you some tricks to encrypt”

"Yes, I asked her to help me."

May didn’t talk with her anymore and continued with her wound, she ended up covering it with a gauze “Thank you”

“It was nothing”

"I'm going with them to eat, will you come?"

“No, I eat in my office”

"Oh then... I will... Thanks for everything and I hope to see you soon”

May gave her a little smile before she left the bathroom to go to Hydra's dining room, Jemma hold to her bag and tried to stay upright on her walk to the dining room. The girls were in their usual place and after she picked up she food, she approached them.

“We thought you wouldn’t come,” said Elena making room for her to sit next to her.

“I’m sorry for the delay, just... It’s been a whole day,” she said with a shy smile.

“What happened?”

Jemma answered Bobbi’s question by talking about everything that had happened after she was left at home until she met May in the bathroom. It was strange to have friends with whom to talk about her days. She usually only talked to her father about what was happening in her life but she still stayed a little distant, having this kind of privacy with a group of people wasn’t something that she had experienced before.

“May said that she knows you,” she said to Daisy.

“Oh yes, she was my OS before she went to administration”

“What is a...?”

“Official supervisor. May took care of all my training.”

“Is she always that cold?”

“Usually, but she is a good person”

From the expression in the face of all, Jemma knew that she should no longer ask any more questions on the subject. She listened carefully to all of her friends’ problems, and in the course she learned more about them and how Hydra worked.

“Do I see you tonight?” Daisy asked her while they were leaving their dishes.

“Oh yes, I’m very excited” turned to Bobbi and Elena “You will come?”

“I don’t, I’ve got a date tonight,” Elena said with a smile.

“A date? Is it with the same guy as the other time?” Daisy asked with emotion, Jemma didn’t fully understand since she was barely meeting these girls but also couldn’t wait to find out.

“Turtle man. He said he wanted to talk about something important to me.”

“How many dates you have went out?” Bobbi asked before the four of them walked out of the dining room.

“Five until this moment, I've had a very good time and I hope we can soon formalize the relationship”

“I want to know him, we have heard of him too much but we don’t know him,” said Daisy scandalised.

“I’m afraid that I won’t see you either, I’m going to Puerto Rico tonight, with Hunter,” she put her eyes in blank “There are to many gossip to talk when I back, with Elena’s date and everything that happens with Hunter in Puerto Rico”

“It seems that it will be just you and me,” Daisy said, giving her a friendly hit in the ribs.

Jemma returned to her closet after they take different ways, she had to catch some bills for the purchase of laboratory equipment and it was better for her to hurry, she had some lots of work if she considered that she spent all morning learning about economics in the company of her boss.

“Yes, I would like to see you increase the activity by sixty percent,” said a man whom she didn’t know to her boss in a threatening way.

“I’m going to do it, Ward,” said his boss in the same way “And I’m going to be very satisfied when I take that stupid smile out of your face.”

“That’s what happens when scientists want to be politicians,” he told him with the same mockery tone “There are many mistakes in your proposal, you’re going to destroy the whole company.”

“The economist have spoke,” he said with sarcasm “But this is what happens to specialists, they always believe they are superior. At least I went to the University.”

“In operations at least we learn about finance and economics, public relations, science teach them to be library rats and lock themselves in a laboratory.”

“Oh please, a semester with economic is enough for you to be the best Hydra’s head? I'm Hydra's president and you're still in ops." the other man seemed about to answer his comment but The Doctor turned to see her and also distracted the man who was questioning him “Jemma, how good that he is here”   
  


She went into the office with fear when her boss made a gesture to her, she felt intimidated by the presence of these two men, she felt small in front of these people who were the vivid image of what they wanted at Hydra. She still felt like a bean in the rice.

“Do you want a board to review my strategy step by step? Because my secretary and I will be happy to meet with your accountant.”

It would be a lie to say that she was not scared and annoyed because her boss give her this job, she was a scientist, she had studied biology and chemistry, not economics, and one thing was that she helped him to solve some problems with administration, and another very different one was that she presented her business plan as if she worked in Hydra’s administration, not even her two p.H.’s could help her to do that.   
  


“I’ll see you in two days, then,” said the man Ward? Before he turn around and go.

"Doctor, I ask you to excuse me, but I don't understand."

“You and I are going to get Grant Ward to swallow his words. So it's time to start working.”

“But... Doctor, I don’t know anything about economics, why don’t you consult someone in administration?”

“Because Ward has eyes all over this place and I can’t allow anything that I don’t authorise to leave this office. You, Jemma, have earned my trust”

“Thank you, Doctor.”

__________  
  


Jemma finished capturing all the bills and continued reading the economics books that The Doctor had given her to study and analyse his proposal, her head hurt while she was trying to learn this new form of mathematics.

After she finished her “to do” list, picked up everything in her workspace and kept her belongings in her purse, she sent a text message to her father and warned her that she would go to a friend's house to do a job, she hoped to finish Daisy early.   
  


“Do you need anything else, Doctor?” she asked him on her way to the exit.

“Not really, you can leave. Have a good night, Jemma.”

“The same for you, Doctor. See you tomorrow”

Jemma left the office and go on her way to the entrance to meet Daisy, she was excited to finally have a friend to go out with and have fun. In the last years, while she was spending her days and nights in the books, filling herself with the satisfaction of learning new things, sometimes she wondered what the point of socialisation was when other activities could make her feel full, of course she hadn’t yet known the wonder of laughing with someone else, sharing stories and making new stories together, she had tried friendship for at least just a few days but no longer wanted to leave it.

It had been a long way to Daisy's place, all along the way on the bus, Daisy had made her laugh a lot while telling her about her relationship with Miles, sometimes she felt shamed for being so scandalous, that wasn’t proper for a English lady.   
  


“It’s here,” Daisy said, opening the door to her apartment “Little, but it’s my home”

“It’s nice”

Jemma sat next to Daisy in front of her computer. They spent two hours with Daisy teaching her how to encrypt, Jemma was surprised by Daisy's skills as a hacker, she was making notes about what she was telling her and trying to memorise all her movements.

"And that's all"

“No one will be able to access it?”

“No one, otherwise everything will be destroyed”

“That’s... It’s incredible”

“It’s not to show off, but I’m good, this is what gave me a position in Hydra first,” she got up and went to the kitchen “Do you want coffee?”

“Yes, please”

Daisy came back a few moments later with two cups and a jug with milk, left the cups in their places and sat next to her “Thank you, Daisy”

“It was nothing”

“What time is it?”

“It’s barely ten o’clock”

“No! It's late! My mom is going to kill me if I'm late” took a big sip from the coffee “I'm sorry, I have to go”  
  


“Why? It's early and your mom will understand," she said with a little confusion “Come on, you need to relax from time to time. It's just coffee, you're not gonna drunk here."

“Yes but...”

“Relax. Work can sometimes can be heavy, especially your work.”

“Eh actually... Not really, sometimes I have a lot of work but I can handle it,” she said as she tried to relax in her seat.

“Are you serious? I've only seen The Doctor like five times all the time I've been working at Hydra and it was a headache. You have to be with him all day and you work for him directly”

“Why do you all say that? Yes, it's something bad but it's not that bad."

“Is it not so bad? He’s a bastard."

“Look, I have... Two weeks? Working with him and yes, sometimes he's rude, but it's not that bad. In fact, sometimes he is kind.”

“It is definitely a story that I have to listen to. Let your mom know I won't let you out until we're done talking."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is it, what do you think?
> 
> I hope that you like it, please let me know your thoughts, your commentaries give me motivation to write more faster. Also don’t doubt to share with your friends if you like this fic 
> 
> I have a tumblr account, I’m taking prompts for new fan fics http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	12. How you dare?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a very long time since Leopold feel ashamed by his actions. Jemma is confused about the truly person her boss is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m so happy for giving you this new chapter. I really hope that you like this chapter.
> 
> Some warnings, Fitz maybe is a little bit an idiot in this chapter. 
> 
> And the best of the news, I have a beta for this work! The wonderful @bookscoffeerain who help me a lot with the mistakes. By the way, she writes amazing FitzSimmons fanfics so go to read them!

Chapter 12. 

She opened and closed the door of her house as delicately as possible, it was past midnight and her parents should be asleep. Jemma mused at the thought that when you're having fun with someone, time goes very quickly. Jemma thought she might have managed to enter her home without being caught until she saw the light of the living room and her mother using a cardigan to cover her pyjamas, waiting for her.

“Hi, mum.”

“Do you think that this is the right time for a lady to get home?”

Jemma didn’t agree with what her mother thought most of the time, but she lived in her home so she tried to follow all her mother’s rules. Besides, she had always followed the rules, she liked following the rules.. But in the last few days she had discovered a world to which she used to believe that she didn’t have any right to be in. Jemma had always felt out of place and now she was finally finding the place where she belonged to.

“No, Mum.”

“Where have you been? What kind of work are you doing to make them let you leave so late?”

“I was just... I was with a friend, she was teaching me how to encrypt files and...”

“Encrypt? Jemma, I want an explanation, you've been working for two weeks and I've hardly seen you. Your conduct is not appropriate,” her mother scolded.

“I’m sorry, Mum, it’s just that I have a lot of work and-” Jemma’s mum cut her off.

"I don’t even know what your job is or who your boss is!” 

That was true, Jemma couldn’t find the courage to tell her parents that she had a job as an assistant, they expected much more of her considering that she had two phDs and maybe her father wouldn’t judge her if he told the truth. But her mother, who always wants perfection, wouldn’t allow her to work on something like that, she was overqualified for work like an assistant. 

She had always been the worst liar in the world.

“I am a science consultant for Hydra’s director,” she said as firm and calm as humanly possible

“Science consultant?”

"Yes, my resume left them impressed."

“However, this is not an excuse for you to be doing this, coming home late at nightYou have a home, and people who miss you, miss.”

“I'm sorry, Mum. It's just... My boss trusts me a lot and I want to learn some tricks, a friend offered to help me with that.”

“Friend?” Jemma could tell her mum was interested. 

“I made some friends in Hydra.”

“And who are they? What's their job? Are they decent?” Jemma’s mum was very overprotective.

“Of course they are. I’m really tired right now mum, why don’t I tell you about them tomorrow during breakfast?”

“I don’t want this incident to happen again. And tell your job that they must respect your schedules because otherwise I'll go talk to your boss myself.”

“Mum! No!” 

"Go to sleep,you look tired."

"Yes, ma'am. Good night”

Jemma quickly went up to her room, she didn't want any more questions because then she wouldn’t have to lie..

__________

Leopold opened his apartment door with an annoying gasp, it had been a long day and he desperately needed a good night’s sleep, for the first time in years he rejected Hunter's invitation to go to a pub and meet some girls. 

Of course, when he thought that his day couldn’t get any worse, he saw Ophelia in his kitchen making dinner. He was definitely expecting a good claim and if it wasn't that then it was something about the goddamn wedding.

“You’re early, I thought you were going to be late, as always,” Ophelia said with a harsh tone.

“I didn’t expect you here.”

“I thought it would be better if we spoke right now, tomorrow I have to go to Seattle and I want us to make things clear before I go.”

“Ophelia...”

“No, don’t say anything,” she said by approaching him and holding his tie seductively “You hurt me, Leopold, you have my heart but you try to break it.”

“You don’t respect my authority.” Leopold said, his head held high and far away from her’s.

“Do you respect our relationship?”

“And you’re once again jealous?”

“Honey, I know you and I know you let yourself be influenced by your friend,” she said with contempt as she always did when she was talking about Hunter “You are mine.” 

“Ophelia, you know that I hate when you try to control my life, I am not one of your subordinates. Respect my authority, I am head of Hydra's, I deserve your respect.”

“Leopold, for the love of God...”

“No, no, I’m tired of you always trying to manipulate me. I try to make you happy with everything you want, all the time I agree with you. I have no idea of what to do to keep you happy, love,” he told her in the same seductive way.

“Honey, I don’t want to lose you, you’re the perfect man and any woman would crawl for you.”

“I’m not cheating on you, Ophelia,” he took her hands away from his tie “And I’m getting tired of it.”

“Hey, we don’t have to fight,” she came up and kissed his neck “Let’s have a drink, talk about our wedding and then have a nice time.”

Leopold knew that another jealousy scene would soon come from Ophelia and he also knew that as soon as she returned from Seattle she would want to impose her authority on Hydra, and on him. He could no longer endure that attitude and sometimes wondered very seriously why he was her fiance and why he had proposed to her in the first place, but he simply could not leave her.

“But I hate that you give so much importance and power to your assistant, she is insignificant and now is untouchable. I'm afraid she wants to take privileges that don't belong to her and that she is your cover," Ophelia tried to use her silver tongue to trick him.

“Don't be silly. She is only a simple assistant. You're my fiancée, there's no comparison.”

Ophelia was smart. She was so perfect that sometimes she was terrifying. But she was also a despicable human. Leopold knew that nothing justified him cheating on her but sometimes he just had to come out of her bubble of evil from time to time, Leopold admitted that inside he was a coward because he didn’t find the courage to confront her or his father.

But he also had some strategy and that was enough to motivate him, he couldn’t let go of Ophelia when she was somehow his insurance inside of Hydra. Ophelia was his advantage over Ward.

__________

Jemma spent the most uncomfortable morning of her life while her mother asked questions about her friends, she asked for their names to look for their criminal record and her father seemed too excited to contain the emotion, it was as if she had returned from her first day in the kindergarten.

Jemma arrived at the usual place for her tea and biscuits, bought extra biscuits for Doctor Fitz and then followed her way to the park where she enjoyed her purchase. It had been a while since she had the opportunity to enjoy her biscuits so calmly, but her life finally seemed to find a balance point and she had managed to adapt to her new job.

She walked to Hydra and went through all the safety filters when she arrived, went to her closet and took care of preparing her boss's tea, leaving all the work that he had to do and biscuits on his desk. Both of them liked perfection so Jemma tried to keep it all perfect.

While waiting for her boss to come, she started with her work and took The Doctor's agenda out of her folder, she wanted to start transcribing all the contacts. It was going to be terribly long and boring, there were many details about every woman on the agenda and she really didn’t want to have so much details about him.

“Jemma,” she heard the voice of her boss.

Jemma stood up and straightened her skirt, she left the closet and smiled when she saw The Doctor standing in front of his desk eating the biscuits.

"Good morning, Doctor."

“Good morning. Jemma, did you bring the biscuits?”

"Yes, I... They're a good accompaniment to tea," Jemma explained her thinking.

“Thank you very much. Now, we have tons of work, haven't we?”

“You have to go supervise the start of research on the vaccine. You are going to be on Mr. Bakshi's news this afternoon. Later you have to buy the equipment for the lab. Then you have to go out to see the new ops building,” Jemma looked up from her clipboard once she was done.

“A hard day, then.”

“Something like that,” they smiled at each other.

“I think you will be alone today, Miss Simmons.”

There was a time in her life when she fought to be called ‘Dr. Simmons’ but a while ago he lost her mind to do so.

“Doctor, do you remember that I told you about saving the agenda on the computer?” Jemma brought up.

“Yes.”

“I found a way,” Jemma said excitedly.

“Really? Do you think Ophelia won't be able to hack the file?" 

“I trust my skills.”

She was quickly learning something new, as well as having an IQ of more than three digits. There was a part of her that was still quite sure of her skills and intelligence and didn’t doubt them

“I can show you.”

“Ok, I can waste five minutes of my time.”

She simply couldn't help keeping her eyes blank when he got up with a presumed movement and went to her closet. She took her place at her desk and tried not to get nervous when he came behind her and observed each of her movements.

“It’s a rather basic virtual agenda,” Jemma was furiously typing, “But it’s encrypted and saved under several security filters, it’s very basic but sure to be effective.” Jemma stood back proudly from her work, “Please try to open the file.”

Jemma was more than happy when he failed to open the document and his eyebrow was furrowed in frustration.

“How...?” He said after a few minutes.

“Doctor, do your best,” she said smugly.

“I’m doing my best, but... It’s amazing, how did you do it?”

“I asked a friend to teach me how to encrypt a file, she taught me with a photo of a cat.”

“And how can I access it?”

“You have to memorise this,” she told him and gave him a piece of paper with the code on it , in case he forgot.

“Of course” he seemed happy “You and I are going to do something, Jemma”

“Something?”

“We’re going to make a code, if one of these women calls my personal phone you will know what you have to answer using a classification that we will give them.”

Now she understood what Daisy meant, sometimes he could be a bastard.

__________

Fitz was very happy as he was making the ranking list for his lovers, now it would be easier to evade Ophelia. Or at least she would stop her insistence on the goddamn agenda.

“Fitzy?” he heard Hunter's voice while they were still doing the ranking.

“We are here, Hunter.” Leopold called.

Hunter came into Jemma's office, and seemed confused to see Leopold sitting so comfortably in front of Jemma. To be honest, it had been comforting to spend time with her, Jemma radiated enough optimism and happiness to infect whoever was around her, but Leopold noticed that today she didn’t seem as happy as usual.

“What are you doing?”

“Jemma found a way to hide the agenda on a computer file. We are doing a ranking of everyone.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I will show you. Jemma, Amanda Shire is calling,” she sighed and took the phone to simulate the call.

"You’re calling Doctor Fitz's office, who's looking for him?" She pretended to wait for a moment, she looked for the name on the computer and clarified her voice “I'm sorry, Dr. Fitz is in a congress in China and he will in return twenty days.”

“Another one. Rose Smith, skip the presentation and go straight to the point,” Leopold ordered.

"Doctor Fitz is in the lab but if you like to wait a few moments, I'll go look for him.”

"Wow, I think I understand,” Hunter seemed impressed. 

“One more, Judy.”

“Give me a minute and I will put you in contact with him.” Hunter laughed, he finally understood the whole system, in fact Fitz was also quite proud, at least until he saw the face of annoyance on Jemma and to his own surprise, for the first time in a long time, he felt ashamed, “Doctor, you have to go with Mr Bakshi,” Jemma reminded him.

“Yes, right.”

He hated Bakshi, it really was torture to be close to him, and worse still, Bakshi was a faithful ally of Ophelia, and more than once he had discovered him spying him because of her orders.

“Jemma, I’ll go, are you coming with me?”

“Me?” Jemma asked, confused. 

“Yes, I might need your help.”

He had no idea why he was inviting her, but she seemed to be a little sad today. Leopold found that he liked when she smiled, so now that she seemed so serious it simply didn’t feel well. 

“Is it an order?”

“No, I’m asking you for a favor,” he said, trying to be kind. He might have forgotten how to be kind. Jemma seemed surprised by his request.

“I have to keep trying to make the business plan,” Jemma gestured to her computer.

“We can do that together this afternoon.”

“That’s... Ok, I’ll go.”

“Well. Hunter and I will go to the studio, be sure to keep everything in order and bring the cell phone with you in case someone calls.”

“Sure.”

Both of them came out of Jemma’s office, Hunter seemed to be very confused, but he also seemed to want to laugh a lot for what he has just done.

“What was that?” Hunter asked.

“What?”

"You inviting her to come with us."

“Well, it made no sense for her to stay here, I need her, she’s my assistant!”

“She? I thought you had better tastes,” he mocked.

"Hunter, I don't want to sleep with her."

“Obviously, it would be even stranger if you wanted it,” Hunter shuddered and Leopold was annoyed, “But I don’t understand why you are being kind all of a sudden.”

“Sometimes you can be kind without wanting anything in return.”

“Yes, of course,” Huntersaid with tones of sarcasm in his voice.

Leopold didn't fully understand either, but he felt ashamed. Jemma expressed too much with her gaze, enough to illuminate the room with her smile and also to make him feel ashamed, that wasn’t something that would have happened to him before.

"Doctor, I'm ready!"

“Let’s go, then.”

__________

Her day had been absolutely terrible, she not only had to spend unbearable hours listening to her boss's being an idiot by classifying women as if they were simple clothing, then it got worse when they went to the interview with Mr Bakshi and he only humiliated her and talked a lot about her physique and the way she dressed. Then, when she finally had the opportunity to go out and go eat something, her friends said she arrived too late to get pudding for dessert, and they didn't even have the opportunity to talk about Elena's dare because they had to go back to work.

Then she had to help her boss buy all of the entire lab supplies, which would have been an entertaining activity if it didn’t include so much paperwork, just to buy a Erlenmeyer flask they had to do a whole bureaucratic process. And she had a little moment of peace when he went to the new ops place, but she knew that as soon as he arrived then she would have to get to work in Hydra's goddamn economy, sometimes she regretted having the kindness to correct The Doctor's annual plan.

And her apathy for her boss persisted, it had touched a sensitive nerve to help him to classify his lovers, she felt like a traitor for having done that.

Her boss arrived at seven o'clock that night, he looked mad. Jemma hoped that he wouldn't yell at her because she wasn't in her best mood to shut up and ignore him. 

“Jemma.”

“Yes, Doctor?”

“I want you to come with me.”

“Me?! Where?”

“To the lab”

“You want me to go to the lab?”

“Yes! Are you deaf?! To the lab!”

She couldn’t avoid the look of indignation, she could be very patient and usually sought trouble and tried to follow the rules, had always tried to be submissive, but she also had a limit. She thought she would receive more screams, that her expression would go unnoticed by her boss, she had discovered that he didn’t have the slightest concern about other people’s feelings, but instead his expression softened.

“Can you go to the lab with me? I need help. Those in charge are idiots,” Leopold rephrased.

“What’s going on?”

“There is a problem with the lab, it is a mess, it looks like high school students were in there! They don't know the difference between a beaker and a thermometer”.

“And how can I help you?”

“You are a very orderly woman. And you are a biochemist. I want you to help me to write a protocol and an organization code.”

“Can’t I do it from my office? I don't think it's necessary to go to the lab."

"No, I want you to get familiarised with the laboratory and make a perfect organization system."

“I can do it from here.”

“And then I want us to work at the night night gun,” Leopold blurted out.

“Oh,” Jemma was taken back.

“Look, I don’t understand what I did to make you angry, so I apologise for that, but I know that you had a very bad time with Bakshi. Please let me make something for you.”

"You're my boss and I'm just following orders.”

“Then this is an order.”

“What about the business plan?” 

“I asked Hunter to look for someone of all his trust to do so. And if that's not enough, I asked another friend inside Hydra. I want us to focus on other issues. You're right, Jemma, you're not an economist.”

“I guess I have to do what you tell me.”

“Then let's go to the lab, help me with that problem and then we’ll start with the night night gun. Tomorrow we have a lot of work to do because you have to help me draw up a memorandum but for today, let's invent."

“All right, that sounds fun,” Jemma admitted.

For a little moment, she forgot any anger, science was enough to take her attention and the promise to work in a lab after so long can’t be rejected. She had lost her enthusiasm for most of life as the years passed, but science was definitely not out of fashion, she remained as passionate about science as the first day. 

Her boss could be a bastard, but he also had kind gestures. Jemma constantly wondered whether this whole attitude was only a mask and if under it there was a kind man. The stories that she had heard from other employees said that it was definitely not, that this was their true self. But what she had sometimes seen, didn’t fit with that description, no, sometimes it seemed that he was forced to act so cruelly and that he tried to suppress any kind gesture.

It was a big mystery, but at least he was a pretty mystery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Appreciation post to Lil’s acting, whom with a little gaze could make us cry. 
> 
> I would love to read your thoughts about this chapter. 
> 
> Once again, tons of love for my wonderful beta @bookscoffeerain, she make a great job with this work and with her own and it’s a lovely person. 
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	13. Team.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spending time with Jemma was an experience, one that he had never had before in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beta for this work is the amazing @bookscoffeerain who is a lovely person and a very good writer (you should go to read her fanfics)

Leopold was happy with his decision, Jemma’s eyes shone with excitement when they entered the lab. He could understand how boring it was to be his assistant, Leopold was constantly bored doing political and administrative work.

Not even the mess scared her, she seemed excited just by the idea of being in a lab and Leopold felt saddened by her. Jemma was a young biochemist with two phDs, she was very intelligent, kind and efficient, maybe her only defects were her shyness and extreme clumsiness, in addition to her lamentable sense of fashion, it was not nice to see all the mix of colors, prints, textures and clothes she wore. She was brilliant though and that was the only important thing.

Jemma put on a pair of safety glasses and a lab coat, Jemma was completely focused on all the chemical reagents and murmuring lowly about how dangerous it was for everything to be strewn about.

“I thought Hydra was more selective in terms of who they hire, especially in the scientific field?”

“We are.”

“Any idiot can label a reagent. Even in high school the lab was cleaner than this!.”

“You were very young when you went to high school, weren't you?”

“Something like that. When I was seven and a half years old, I was learning integrals but I didn’t attend high school until I was nine.”

“Until the age of nine? You said that like it took you forever to get to high school.”

“It was for me, I was always eager to continue learning so it was a shame to waste so much time. Fortunately, I finished high school in a year and a half and then, finally, I was able to go to University.”

“And that’s how you got two phDs before the sixteen,” Leopold connected. 

“That's right. Because I am an intelligent, efficient, and above all, organized woman,” she told him as she was picking up an acid stored in the wrong place “What exactly do you want me to do, Doctor Fitz?”

“A system of classification and order, I want everything to be impeccable.”

“Well, I guess I can do it, it's simple. And that, it's in my area of experience.”

“Jemma, are you mad at me because of the business plan?”

“Me? Mad? Of course not!” She didn’t know how to hide her emotions, Leopold was sure there was something else, “I'm fine!”

“I’m sorry if I pressured you, I know that you’re not an economist but... It’s just...” Leopold didn’t really understand because I felt the need to apologise and give her an explanation “I’m not going to do it again, I’ll get an economist who will do the job to us and explain it to us.”

“Us?” Jemma questioned.

"I've learned to trust you," Leopold looked into her brown eyes, to show he was being sincere.

Jemma didn’t say anything and kept on organizing the lab. Leopold felt upset but not with her but with himself. He wasn't supposed to feel that way, he was indolent and it made no sense to give so much importance to his assistant.

“You should use a lab coat,” Jemma suggested to him. 

"Yes, hey... That’s a good idea."

“It is the basic rule for the lab,” Jemma shrugged. 

Leopold was beginning to feel exasperated by her attitude, especially because he couldn’t give an explanation as to what was so different about it. He looked for a clean lab coat in the warehouse, he removed his suit jacket and his vest to be more comfortable.

“I’m ready. What do you need me to do?” He felt a little awkward and uncomfortable, it had been a while since he felt awkward but somehow he felt natural. “I guess we're not going to throw chemicals in a flask and wait for something to happen?” He tried to joke but she was still just as serious as before. Finally Fitz was done with wondering, “Why are you mad at me, Jemma? In the morning you brought me tea and biscuits, you were the damn sun, and then you just became an ice cube. I want an explanation!” Leopold paused and then sloppily added on, “That’s an order.”

Leopold used to believe that the natural state of Jemma was shy but when she looked back at him, he realised that maybe he was wrong, maybe she wasn’t that shy. She seemed hard, determined, there was still a soft feature of kindness on her face but determination was what dominated her expression at the moment.

“Right now!” Leopold said to her and she smiled at him, but it was not her natural smile, it was a sarcastic smile.

“Of course, Doctor.”

“Then do it,” he suddenly said, less secure.

She seemed to doubt herself for a second, then she looked down and returned to her timid position before. Leopold was confused, in one moment she seemed willing to impose herself on him and then the next she was again fragile. Leopold wonderd if shyness was her mask?.

And why did he care? She was his assistant, she didn't matter.

“This is a mess,” Jemma continued to order the chemical reagents “They have not even the slightest idea on how to even read labels and how these reagents should be stored.”

“No, it’s not that, you’ve been angry with me for most of the day.”

“Can we just... There's a big mess in here, and I don't think we can do the dendrotoxin today," Jemma tried to change the subject. 

“Jemma...”

“Are you going to help me or will you just be watching?” Jemma said, daring him to keep questioning her.

"Ok, you're not in the mood," Leopold backed down. 

Leopold was exasperated by her, he really wanted to know why she was angry with him and also wanted to understand why he cared so much. Spending time with her was an experience, one that he had never had before in his life. It seemed that Jemma hated him and Leopold didn’t know how to get close to her, she was definitely not any woman he had ever met before and that was the thing that made her so intriguing. He didn't want to sleep with her or get something from her, and she didn’t want something from him. Jemma wasn’t like the women he usually knew and wanted.

“I like your color coding, my work agenda looks much better,” he suddenly said while they were saving the glassware. 

“Thanks.”

__________

Jemma couldn’t believe that scientists in a company as important as Hydra had a mess as awful as this, at least it kept her mind busy long enough to forget that she was angry with The Doctor.

She honestly didn't understand it, at one point he was being sexist and classifying women and then all of a sudden he was worried that a simple assistant was angry. It didn't make any sense.

“B is for blue, for biological,” she told The Doctor, while he was writing the organization system down.

“That... I like it, actually.”

Jemma frowned in confusion, it really was like being with two people. Although she liked the part of The Doctor that was interested in science and that was shy, he looked nice when he was trying to correct his mistakes. She shook her head, she was being unprofessional. 

“B is for blue, for biological,” he said, “Is that the classification that you used for everything? Colours?”

“Something like that.”

“And what is for my agenda?”

“Ochre is for ops. Cream is for communication. Sky-blue is for science. Pink is for personal,” Jemma rattled off quickly.

“I like that system, actually.”

"Doctor, we should hurry up," she reminded.

“I just wanted to lighten the atmosphere,” Leopold defended. 

They could have a great relationship, if only he wasn't an insensitive bastard. They would have many topics to talk about and many projects to work on, they would be a good team, but unfortunately he had more moments of evil than those of kindness.

“I really would like to know why you are angry, Jemma.”

“Can we forget it? I think we're fine just organizing all of this,” Jemma motioned to the clutter that they had barely put a dent in. 

“Will that make you happy?”

"Science always makes me happy."

“Then we can stay here as long as you want.”

Maybe not as much as she would like because she had to arrive early to get home but she could take advantage of this moment to live with the part of The Doctor that she liked. 

In a completely professional way, of course.

__________

It was a couple of days later from when they had their moment in the lab, Leopold felt overwhelmed by everything, but at least Jemma had finally forgotten she was angry at him (or at least she was no longer terribly cold with him) and she had been very cooperative when the economist Hunter hired explained their business plan to them to present it to Ward. Jemma had worked with him to improve the lab and had developed a whole system with which they managed to increase the activity in the laboratory, her eyes shone with excitement when he took her to the lab to continue organizing everything and she was more than happy when they presented it to all the workers in the scientific area, showing them the new protocol for the science department.

Even through Jemma’s anger, Leopold still found his cup of tea and a couple of biscuits in his desk every morning (maybe she was having her revenge from him with the biscuits, because the day before she gave him gluten-free biscuits and today they were sugar-free biscuits). Somehow, the small gesture made him feel comfortable and warm, it was nice to live with a civilised person from time to time.

The past few days had not been his best days, not only had the work overwhelmed him, but also his personal life made him feel a whirlwind of emotions. The night before his meeting with Ward, Ophelia called him to tell him that she had spoken to his father and that both had decided that November was the perfect month for the wedding, and they had set a date without even asking him and now he could not delay it. He didn't even have Hunter to talk about his problems, he was still in Puerto Rico and he couldn't make contact with him.

Sometimes he felt that everything around him was crumbling. Somehow he had everything he always wanted but he also felt empty and destroyed, he had to sacrifice too much to achieve it and there was not a single day when his conscience left him alone. 

“Doctor, it's time to meet Mr. Ward and his consultant,” Jemma reminded him.

Leopold couldn't help but smile at Jemma's strange outfit, she was wearing blue pantyhose, a red skirt with a star print that reached her to her knee and a cardigan of a strange green tone, maybe it was the first time he saw her wearing something else in accordance with her age and not grandmother's clothes, the combination was still very strange but it was better than to see a sample of sofas fabric.

“It’s time for the truth. We'll show Ward that he's wrong," Leopold said, determined.

“I suppose... I mean, your business plan is very well structured and solved the problems with the budget, but...”

“But?” Leopold raised an eyebrow. 

“I really don’t see how to increase the activity. It's just too much. Not with the budget we have. And also, to be honest, you promised scientific advances that can’t be achieved in one year. No one with a shred of common sense would promise a vaccine in less than a year. I mean, vaccines are to treat viral diseases and you are looking for a vaccine for a gene. I don’t know if vaccines are the right term and I don’t know if it’s possible to make what you want to make.” Jemma said.

“Is it just that?”

“And to cover the quota of...” Jemma became tense “to cover the quota of inhumane captured... The designated personnel are very tiny to meet the demand.”

“We’ll find a way,” Fitz said, determined. 

“Not with this budget, Hydra will be an organization that practically has the world order in its hands, but... It is a powerful organization, yes, but...”

“We don’t have all the power, we still depend on government . We are a means to have the world order, not the world order,” Leopold countered.

“Exactly. Your goals and business plan coincide perfectly, neither Mr. Ward nor his consultant will find failures but in reality, it will be very difficult to meet all your goals,” Jemma said gently

“But not impossible. That small percentage of success is what will keep us.”

She didn't seem convinced but it was obvious that she wasn't going to tell him that she disagreed, he still desperately wanted the power to read her mind to find the reason why she got angry with him a few days ago.

“Come on, they must be waiting for us,” Jemma said.

“Yes, right, we should hurry.”

Both came out of the office with the folders in their hands, ready to succeed at that meeting. Leopold went to Veronica's side and stopped to give her instructions. 

“I want you to order drinks for the boardroom, Ward and his consultant will come to meet with us.”

“Of course,” she said with a huge smile, “Do you need me to go with you?”

“No, I want you to stay here and take care of everything while Jemma and I are with them, I don’t want interruptions.”

“Okay,” she replied, not as happy as before.

“Thank you,”

Leopold was really nervous, he needed to get rid of Ward and this was the perfect opportunity to achieve it. And of course he had his secret weapon, Jemma was absolutely brilliant and could defeat Ward any day.

Leopold didn’t know if this was a cruel joke of the Universe, but for some reason, Ward's consultant was Bakshi. Even Jemma seemed scared, Leopold knew Bakshi didn't like Jemma so the idea of confronting him must have scared her.

“Bakshi, Ward” he adjusted his jacket and combed his hair, “A pleasure to see you. I would ask you to allow us a moment, we forgot a copy of the reports that we were going to submit.”

Leopold took Jemma quickly by her arm and took her out of the boardroom, she looked scared and had the impression that she had even become more pasty than she was already.

“Doctor, you told me that he would bring a consultant, not Mr Bakshi,” she tried to whisper.

“Jemma, you can't leave me alone. You’re the only person who knows that business plan and my strategy as much as I do.”

“I have to be honest with you, Mr Bakshi hates me and he wouldn’t like me here.”

And she was right, the way Bakshi insulted her the day she went with him to the interview, Bakshi had left nothing to the imagination. And he really didn't understand why Bakshi hated her, as far as Leopold knew, they had barely crossed paths in all the time she had been working. 

“I need you to listen to me, Jemma. I want you to be courageous, go to that boardroom and show them who you are. I need you more than ever.”

Jemma’s eyes shone for a moment and before Leopold noticed it, she walked to the boardroom completely determined. Leopold was praying for a miracle.

“Well, let’s start,” Leopold said, trying to stay calm, “Talk to me, Bakshi, why should I have the pleasure of having you here?”

“Mr. Ward asked me to come with him, he needed my experience.”

“I can ask the same for her, Leopold,” Ward said, pointing to Jemma.

“It seems to me that you have seen her before but let me present you properly. She's my assistant, Jemma Simmons. And if you don't have anything else to say, then let's start.”

“I can hardly wait,” Bashki deadpanned.

Jemma gave the folders to Ward and Bakshi, at the same time Veronica came in with coffee for the four.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you, Leopold? I have six semesters in law school and I'm sure that I could be a great help!"

“No, Veronica. Please go.” She followed his order despite her anger.

“Well, now that we can start,” Ward said, “I’d like to clarify Bakshi’s presence so that we don’t have any misunderstanding. No one knows the functioning of all areas as well as Bakshi does and we need a neutral person to the whole matter.”

“Of course, neutral,” Leopold replied with sarcasm “Come on, Bakshi, please clarify our minds.”

“Your proposal is inconsistent, it has failures in the calculation of financial expenditure, which implies that the whole proposal falls.”

“I am aware of inconsistencies but they have been corrected and we haven’t changed any of the goals.” 

“Oh! Really? Yeah. Well, I'd love to know what those changes are,” said Ward. 

“Please, Jemma, do me the favor of explaining to the gentlemen what the corrections are.”

“This is fantastic, we have the head of Hydra in front of us but we have to talk with the assistant. Leopold, you would have told me, then I would have brought my assistant,” Ward said snarkily.

“Let’s start,” Jemma said, her voice shaking. Ward laughed.

If she didn't find the determination that Leopold knew that she had, then everything was going to be a complete mess. Leopold was anxious while she was looking for the courage but all his worries faded away when she began to speak, he knew that Jemma was very concentrated and had listened to what the economist had explained to them the day before and he also knew that she knew all the strategies perfectly, but Leopold was surprised when she began to speak without stopping, speaking as if she had been an economist all her whole life. Ward and Bakshi were trying to stop her and hinder her entire strategy, but Jemma had an answer for everything, they didn’t even have a chance against her when they started in the science section, and they had no choice but to shut up and resign. 

“And so we can see that the goals are still the same,” Jemma finished calmly, and with a smile.

“Well, does anyone have a question?” said Leopold with a happy smile.

“What I don’t like about all this is that the base and the future of this company are in the hands of an assistant.”

“Jemma, why don’t you tell the gentlemen who you are?” Leopold invited her to brag about herself.

“I have a phD in biology and another in chemistry both by Oxford, with honorary mention. Also I have taken some classes in quantum physics and I made a work about the theory of multiverse while I was working in Cybertek.” 

“Please don't be modest, Jemma also has some knowledge in computer programs on genetic study, basic knowledge about programming and she speaks a lot of languages. What can I say? Jemma does wonders,” he smiled proudly. “And since you mentioned your assistant, what do you say it's her name?”

“Lean.”

“Lean, of course, maybe you can bring her and she could try to have at least five minutes of intelligent conversation with Jemma.”

“With her maybe not, but she could talk with you,” he said in an attempt to annoy him. 

“Oh please bring her, she is a beautiful woman,” he cleared his throat and stood up “Jemma, please write a report of this board so that both Ward and Bakshi sign that our work plan is approved.”

Ward and Bakshi got up with some discomfort and left the boardroom, Jemma relaxed remarkably.

“We beat them?” Jemma asked with concern.

“We beat them” he extended his fist toward her, which confused her for a moment before she realised what he wanted, she smiled and crashed her fist into his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, tons of love for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain who helps me a lot with the mistakes 
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I’m very active in there, if you want to sent me any message with suggestion, prompts or whatever :)
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	14. Classic Beauty.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jemma is different, she's…” Fitz couldn’t figure out a word to describe her, “Classic,” he finally landed on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beta for this work is the amazing @bookscoffeerain who is a lovely person and a very good writer (you should go to read her fanfics)

Three days after they met with Ward and Bakshi, Ophelia and Hunter were back. Jemma was happy when Bobbi returned, she was a little late to arrive at the office after lunch time because she and Bobbi had lot’s of new things to gossip about thanks to Bobbi’s trip to Puerto Rico.

“Doctor, I'm sorry. It wasn’t my intention to arrive this late,” Jemma tried to explain when she finally arrived at the office.

“Don't worry, Jemma. But I'm glad you're back, I need to talk to you about something,” Leopold said.

“Oh, yeah... Is something wrong?”

“I want for you to call for a meeting with the division managers and executives that are available. In half an hour,” he ordered.

“Of course.”

“I have already asked Veronica to take care of the organization and to draft the board report, I want you to come with me to talk about what we discussed and agreed with Ward three days ago.”

“Me?” Jemma asked, taken aback. 

“Why are you always surprised?” Fitz asked, bemused.

“I’m just your assistant!”

“You are my right hand, Jemma,” he said sincerely, looking at her straight in her brown eyes, it made Jemma squirm.

“Stop flattering me all the time,” she muttered in response.

“Then come with me!”

“Doctor, we both know that you are only going to flatter me even more if this board turns out to be a success,” she sighed, “I suppose I have to do it.”

“Thank you.” 

“I have no choice, you are my boss and even if I want to decline the offer, I can’t.”

“How kind,” he told her with sarcasm.

“I am a very kind person!” Jemma protested.

“Kind? What kind of  _ kind _ person tries to poison me with gluten-free and sugar-free biscuits?” Fitz shot back.

“Oh please, if I wanted to poison you then I would give you high doses of sugar everyday!”

Jemma went to her closet and wrote an email to call all executives in Hydra, as well as sending to print the summary of the meeting with Ward and Bakshi and a copy of the strategy and business plan. The Doctor asked her to show him the folder that they would show at the business meeting, to make sure everything was in order.

“Perfect. It's time to go, we have to get there before everyone to be ready.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“And Jemma,” Leopold stopped her from starting to pack up the papers.

“Yes?”

“Beat them. Remember how you left Ward speechless. You can do it,” Leopold gave her a sort of smile.

Then The Doctor and she walked to the boardroom, Jemma set out to get everything in the boardroom in order and prepare for the arrival of the executives.

"I'm not good talking in front of an audience," Jemma tried to reason.

“Is that what you think? Because you smashed Bakshi and Ward.” 

Later, Jemma got nervous when she saw Ophelia come in, her presence always gave her chills. Jemma was uncomfortable when Ophelia approached The Doctor and kissed him. The other executives didn’t take too long, and soon everyone was sitting, waiting for the board to start and Jemma didn’t know where to take a seat.

“Jemma, please sit down here,” Leopold said, pointing out her seat. She was surprised, it didn’t feel right for an assistant to sit in the boss’s normal seat.

“Leopold, what is she doing here?” Ophelia asked bitterly.

“A few days ago, I had a meeting with Grant Ward that was advised by Sunil Bakshi, to clarify some concerns about my strategy for my first year as head of Hydra, isn’t it, Bakshi?”

“Yes, Leopold,” Bakshi answered, begrudgingly.

“And finally, we have the authorization to start. So I would like to start with switching some things up around here. Bakshi, from now on I want any action that you make, you have to report it to Jemma first.”

Everyone in the boardroom seemed surprised by the decision of Dr. Fitz, even Jemma was surprised and angry because The Doctor hadn’t communicated that decision to her. 

“What’s this, Leopold?” Ophelia asked with discomfort, looking at Jemma with contempt, The Doctor had put her in a messy situation.

“You're going to be supervised by Jemma Simmons,” Leopold said simply.

“Leopold this deserves an explanation,” Ophelia demanded.

“This is very simple. What happens is that Jemma was in charge of remaking the strategy and drew up a business plan to make it possible to meet all my goals. Bakshi found a couple of shortcomings that didn’t exist only with the purpose of harming us and I can’t give so much power to an employee who doesn’t trust me. Give all your reports to Jemma and leave this board.”

“Leopold!” Ophelia screamed.

“I am in charge,” he said firmly.

Bakshi left the office, furious, and Jemma was worried, she already had problems with Bakshi and now he was going to destroy her life considering that she practically stole his position even when she didn’t want to take it.

“Doctor, with all respect...” Kara said, the boss of the ops division.

“It isn’t a secret that Bakshi controlled your three divisions, so from today, the order I gave Bakshi goes to all of you. Agent Turgeon, Miss Simmons, or should I say, Dr. Simmons is a biochemist and I think your division will be the most beneficial with her advisory.” 

“Can we talk about this, Leopold?” Ophelia managed out, her face turning red, she was clearly mad.

“Ophelia, this was just an informative board, I am not going to change my decision. And continuing with that, I would like us all to read the strategy so that we can get to work as soon as possible,” Leopold waved her off.

Jemma felt uncomfortable under everyone's gaze. Ophelia and Kara looked at her with contempt, Michael and Hunter in disbelief, and Kenneth Turgeon with indifference.

She hated causing trouble.

The board passed quickly with The Doctor explaining step by step the strategy to achieve his goals and giving them orders to work, Jemma was making notes about each division and familiarizing herself with the work dynamics.

__________

Leopold felt his soul in peace now that he had Ward and Bakshi out of the way, he was going to have a big problem with Ophelia but he already planned to mention the wedding to distract her from Hydra, she had been so desperate to marry him that she wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to involve him in the wedding plans.

But Leopold had a big problem with Jemma and he had no idea how to solve it. When they left the boardroom, he not only had Ophelia's murderous gaze on his, Jemma also looked mad at him. As soon as she arrived back to the office, she didn’t waste time demanding an explanation.

“You didn’t tell me about that! I wasn’t ready!” Jemma snapped.

“Honestly, it was the best decision,” The Doctor tried to defend his choices. 

“You put me in an awful situation!”

“With who? I’m the boss of those fools,” she seemed to calm down, “Jemma, you have proven to be an efficient and trustworthy woman and that is what I need. You can't leave me alone with all this.”

“Doctor, I have no choice but to accept,” she said begrudgingly, but with a hint of genuine gratitude.

“Thank you,” she seemed surprised for those words to come out of his mouth sincerely, “I’m being serious, thank you. We make a good team.” There was a small glimmer of a smile on Jemma’s face, “And it’s better for us to get to work, we have to start buying the equipment for the lab and for ops.”

“I’ll go for the papers,” Jemma said quickly.

__________

_ Two months later. _

Jemma had never been so stressed in her life, she had so much work now that they wanted to start with the inhuman persecution, and she felt overwhelmed with so many papers with orders, requests, contracts, and the phone didn’t stop ringing with calls from banks and suppliers.

Doctor Fitz wasn’t going to arrive until the afternoon, he had a golf tournament and Hunter and Ophelia had to go with him. So, Jemma had been in charge of everything that happened during his absence.

“Hey, there is a bank call on the line and no one answered it,” Veronica claimed.

“I’m on a call with Hammer Industries, give me a moment and I take the call,” Jemma instructed.

“Oh no, I am not your assistant. I'm going to pass the call to Bakshi, when Alistair was the director, he was in charge of public relations.”

“This is not a courtesy call, it’s something about the administration of Hydra and The Doctor is responsible for that. And since The Doctor is gone, I take the call. Please wait three minutes and then I take the call,” Jemma said, putting on a bossy tone. She had learned to be able to stop being walked over by Veronica and others in the past two months.

“As the lady says,” Veronica said with discomfort.

“Thank you,” Jemma took a deep breath when Veronica left, she hated being hard on everyone, but sometimes there was no avoiding it. 

Jemma finished talking to Hammer Industries, her boss was going to meet Justin Hammer at the golf club to buy armaments. Now she had to deal with the bank.

“Hi, you’re talking with Jemma Simmons, the assistant of Dr. Fitz. He is not here but I am in charge of answering all his calls,” she rattled off. 

Jemma knew they were in a big problem when the bank told her that The Doctor had forgotten to sign some papers and they wouldn’t give them the loan for that day if they didn’t deliver the papers before the afternoon. They needed that loan to pay the employees of The Triskelion.

Jemma called The Doctor's cell phone, she had to find a way to make him sign the papers and then take them to the bank to receive the deposit that same day. Jemma felt exasperated when she heard the cell phone inside the office, The Doctor was sometimes too forgetful.

She was afraid and uncomfortable, but she had no choice, so she looked for Ophelia's phone number and called her.

“Hello?” Ophelia replied.

“Madame, I apologize for calling but...”

“What do you want, girl?!” Ophelia sneered as soon as she recognized Jemma’s voice.

“There’s a problem with the bank and...”

“Hey!” She interrupted it “Leopold has been very stressed and golf is the only thing that calms him, when we are at the club, work doesn’t exist. So leave us alone.”

“But...” she closed her eyes when Ophelia ended the call.

She had to resolve the matter. Jemma received the bank's documents by mail, printed them and kept them in a yellow envelope, she was going to send a messenger to the club for The Doctor to sign the papers and then take them to the bank. Of course, she didn't expect that the messenger feel pretty intimidated by Ophelia and he would refuse, any messenger in Hydra dared to go to the club and she was desperate trying to find out how go to the club and then to the bank in bus, she didn't have enough cash for a taxi.

“Jemma,” she heard Daisy’s voice while she tried to solve the problem.

“Hey, Daisy.”

"Are you okay? You look worried,” Daisy asked, concerned.

“I... I have to get The Doctor some very important papers but there is no messenger who wants to take them to him at the club,” Jemma sighed, exhausted.

“Why?”

“Because they are afraid of Ophelia.”

“Why don’t you just take one of the vehicles? The Doctor is kind to you and I'm sure he'll understand if you did."

“I don’t know drive,” Jemma admitted. 

“A taxi?”

“The club is really far away, taking the bus is not an option and I don’t have enough money to pay the taxi to the club and then go to the bank.”

“I have a break, Kara is in a horrible mood and asked us to leave her alone, she said we don’t have to return until five.”

“Would you do it?” Jemma asked.

“Of course, I'm bored. Bobbi and Elena went on a mission today in the morning, I'm all alone.”

“It would be... Yes, please.”

“Come on, you’re going to love it,” she said with an excited smile.

“I just have to take The Doctor’s portfolio to his office first,” Jemma promised.

“I’ll see you in the parking lot.”

Jemma ran as fast as she could, she had to take her bag and The Doctor's portfolio, then went to the parking lot and tried to find Daisy among all the cars. She was impressed, she was in a beautiful red corvette, it was an old model but still in perfect condition.

“It’s amazing,” said Jemma.

“Do you like it? It took me forever to convince my father to lend it to me.”

“Is it your father’s?”

"Yes, I'll introduce you to Lola," Daisy said, lightly hitting the roof of the car.

“Lola?” Jemma asked.

"Yes, he gave her a name," she laughed at Jemma’s bewildered face, "C’mon."

“And we’ll be in time?”

“Of course, don't underestimate Lola. And I'm going to drive carefully, It took me YEARS to get my dad's okay for me to drive her, he would kill me if I scratch her."

Jemma got in the car and put on her seat belt, Daisy tied her hair back then she joined Jemma and sat down, putting on her seat belt, she turned on the car and left the parking lot.

She definitely underestimated Lola, the speed it reached was impressive. The wind hit her face and stirred her hair, now Jemma understood why Daisy had put her hair up, and Jemma regretted her decision to wear her hair loose.

They arrived at the club quickly, Jemma felt relieved because it was still early and they had enough time to make The Doctor sign the papers and then take the papers to the bank.

“What does you mean we can’t pass?” Daisy asked the guard at the entrance.

“Sir, please, I need Dr. Leopold Fitz to sign some papers. It is urgent”

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you pass if you aren’t members of the club or have an invitation from one of the members.”

“The lady told you, we urgently need to find The Doctor, Do you know who he is?”

“Of course I know who he is!” The guard scoffed.

“Then you understand how important this is! Let us pass!” Daisy pestered him.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Daisy,” she was interrupted by Jemma, “I’ll call Ophelia, maybe I can convince her to come for the papers.”

“Good luck with that. She's a witch.” Daisy said. Jemma pulled out her cell phone and looked for Ophelia's contact “Hold on to something,” Daisy told her.

“What?” Jemma asked, confused.

Jemma gasped when Daisy accelerated and passed the club entrance despite the screams of the guard at the entrance, she didn’t understand what was happening but she knew that they were in big trouble.

“They must improve security, one would think that in a place full of rich people they would have more security,” Daisy remarked.

“We’re going to go to prison!” Jemma screamed.

“At this moment I am more concerned about what Coulson will say when he finds out that I used Lola to commit a crime.”

“Coulson?”

“My dad,” Daisy simply said.

They kept going until Daisy parked the car and both went down running as fast as they could, the golf course was a few meters away when they heard the guards running behind them and demanding that they stop.

“Doctor Fitz!” Jemma shouted when she saw a group of people playing, she had no idea whether those people included her boss but she had to make an attempt, “Doctor Fitz!” She frantically screamed.

“Jemma?”

She stopped dry when she saw him, she felt relieved to see him and was also surprised when she saw him. Usually Doctor Fitz wore three-piece suits but now he had a navy blue polo shirt and black pants, he still looked elegant but in a different way that took her breath away.

“What are you doing here?” He asked her, The Doctor seemed surprised.

"Doctor, how good to see you."

“This is unprecedented,” said Ophelia, approaching them “I told you clearly that you’ll leave us alone.”

“I’m sorry, but...” she screamed when she felt a couple of arms holding her arms and pulling her.

“We’re so sorry, Dr. Fitz,” said a guard, “We’ll take her right away.”

“It’s incredible that you’re allowed entry!”

“No, wait,” said The Doctor “What’s going on, Jemma?”

“You have to sign some very important papers, they have to be in the bank before noon,” Jemma said while she was struggling with the guards. 

"Let her go, she's my guest," Leopold snapped at the guards.

“Leopold!” Ophelia protested. 

"Ophelia, enough, she's just doing her job!"

“It’s incredible that you’re still defending this girl after this scandal!” 

“And it's incredible that you keep acting this way. I gave them an order, let her go,” Leopold said, frustrated.

Jemma was relieved when they let her go, behind her were other guards still holding Daisy and trying to keep her still.

“Could they please let Daisy go?” Jemma kindly asked The Doctor.

“Who is Daisy?”

"She's an ops friend and she offered to bring me."

“Of course. Both are my guests, let them go.” 

“Thank you,” Jemma said, relieved.

“It’s nothing. Now, give me the papers,” Leopold ordered.

“I’m going. We’ll talk when you’re reasonable,” Ophelia said with discomfort.

“Okay,” he said with indifference.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I didn't want to cause you any problems," Jemma said.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about anything,” she took the papers out of the portfolio and gave them to him “Thank you. It has to be taken immediately to the bank,” Leopold ordered.

“Of course, Daisy and I will take them to the bank immediately,” Jemma replied.

“Jemma, actually... Why don’t you stay? I'd like you to come with me to breakfast with Hammer Industries.”

“Me?” Jemma asked, surprised.

“Of course, I would like to have your advice on the matter.”

“But the papers...” 

"I'm sure your friend can take care of that," Leopold waved her off.

Jemma searched for some help from Daisy, but she seemed just as surprised as Jemma was “Of course I can do it,” she said with a smile.

“Thank you very much,” said The Doctor “Jemma, give them to her to take them to the bank,”

“Daisy...”

“It will be a pleasure. Doctor, would you mind if I took Jemma for a second? I'll take her to the bathroom to fix her hair."

“Of course, I guess there’s time,” he said looking at his watch, “But only 20 minutes, no more, you have to be on time with the bank. Hunter and I will go to the showers, see you at the restaurant in 20 minutes.”

“But...” Jemma protested.

“Come on, we have work to do,” Daisy said, taking her hand and dragging her away.

"Are you crazy? You have to go to the bank!”

“The boss said we have twenty minutes.”

“You need more than twenty minutes to fix me, maybe I need to be born again to finally fix myself,” Jemma deadpanned.

“What are you talking about? Just letting me brush your hair will make you look beautiful. And in twenty minutes I can do a lot.”

“Daisy...”

"Come on, we're wasting time."

Daisy and Jemma went back to the car to pick up their bags. Jemma couldn’t persuade Daisy to stop trying to fix the disaster that she was and they were looking for the women's showers. When they came in, Daisy took her to the counter and Jemma allowed her to comb through her hair when she saw the disaster that was her hair after the air took her off.

“That will be fine,” Jemma told her when she finished brushing.

“Oh no, no,” Daisy said taking a hair curling out of her bag “I’m always ready,”

“Daisy!” Jemma protested.

“Just relax, I promise you’ll be beautiful.”

__________

Leopold finished combing his hair and together with Hunter they left the showers to go to the dining room to meet the people of Hammer Industries. Both entered the restaurant and took their place, the people Hammer Industries weren’t yet there and neither was Jemma.She had only three more minutes to get there.

“They need a miracle to make her look good,” said Hunter “More than 20 minutes and a good plastic surgeon.”

“Why are you so despicable?” Leopold huffed.

“Hey, you know I'm telling the truth. She is... Well, she isn’t a beauty”

“Jemma is... Not all women are going to be like Bobbi.”

“She is a Goddess, natural, ethereal. And also a demon.”

“Why? Because she doesn’t agree to go out with you?”

“Yes! How can she resist me?”

“Maybe because she's smart. Jemma is different, she's…” Fitz couldn’t figure out a word to describe her, “Classic,” he finally landed on.

“Classic?” Hunter asked, not impressed.

“Yes, she’s not a model but...”

“Wait a moment, do you like her?” Hunter mocked.

“What?! Of course not, she's my assistant. And it's not the kind of woman that I normally go for.”

Leopold preferred to ignore Hunter and focus his attention on the restaurant entrance. He was surprised when he saw her, her hair was no longer the strange tangle she used to have, it was combed and there were soft waves on it, her face was framed by the curtain of brown curls; she had no glasses on, so he could perfectly see her features, as she approached more, Leopold could see her factions and the freckles splashing her white and smooth skin. She was a classic beauty.

Even the dreadful dress she was wearing couldn’t overshadow the beauty of her face. Since she came to work with him, Leopold didn’t understand her love of wearing clothes that didn’t agree to her and accessories that didn’t favor her. It’s true that Jemma wasn’t a model, she was not terrifyingly perfect, but she was beautiful with simplicity.

“Doctor Fitz,” she said a bit nervously, smoothing down her dress.

“Jemma,” he stood up quickly “Please take a seat,” he said, pulling out a chair for her.

“Thank you,” she smiled.

“You only have to switch the dress with another and she’s fine,” whispered Hunter.

Fitz didn't answer, he didn't want to keep listening to his nonsense. It was true, in part, she was wearing a blue flower dress and lace neck, a strange orange cardigan and yellow stockings, perhaps it was one of the top 3 strangest outfits he’d had seen.

"Doctor, I'm not sure I must be here," Jemma admitted. 

“Of course, these people want to sell us equipment for the lab and I want both of us to look at it.”

“It’s been such a long time since I’ve worked in the lab, you should bring Agent Turgeon.”

“Of course not, we have worked in the laboratory,”

And that was true, in the last two months they had spent at least an hour a day in the laboratory to work on dendrotoxin, Leopold loved how her eyes shone and how natural she was when they were working.

“They are here,” Hunter said to them suddenly.

__________

They had closed the deal with Hammer Industries, Jemma sought the best for the interests of her boss and was very specific to what they wanted. They invited The Doctor to a cocktail party to sign the purchasing contract.

“That was amazing, we got a fantastic deal,” said The Doctor.

“We hope that with the new equipment, Kara will stop being so annoying” said Hunter.

“It is in our interest to have her happy, she is very close to Ward,” Leopold countered.

Jemma was walking beside them to go to the parking lot, both were comfortable with the deal and were celebrating. She felt a little excluded but didn’t give it much thought, she didn’t want to be here in the first place.

“Jemma, will you go back to the office?” Leopold asked.

“Yes. About that, do you know where I can take the bus?” She asked.

“The bus?” 

“Yes, Daisy went to the bank and I have no other way back,” Jemma explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

“Oh no, absolutely not, I will take you,” Leopold decided.

“Doctor, it’s not necessary,” Jemma said.

“Of course it is, let's go. Hunter, are you going to the office?" 

"No, I have to go, there's a mission."

“Good luck,” The Doctor told him. Hunter then left to go to his car, “Then let’s go,” He said to Jemma

“Thank you, Doctor.”

When they arrived at the parking lot where The Doctor's car was, they crossed with two completely beautiful women and The Doctor didn’t wait a second to start flirting.

“Hello beauties,” he told them, approaching them with a smile. 

“Leopold!” One of them said, the one close to him, the blonde, “It's so nice to see you!”

“I’d say the same, honey,” he kissed her cheek, “Will you introduce me to your friend?”

“Leopold, this is Krista. Krista, this is Leopold, do you remember him? I have told you about him.”

“Of course, I was looking forward to meeting you,” Krista said, and Dr. Fitz approached to kiss her cheek.

“It has been a pleasure. And what do you girls do? Are you busy in the afternoon?” Leopold asked.

“Oh no, we were planning to spend the whole afternoon here, are you with us?” Krista asked.

“Dear, don’t even try, because this man gets married in November,” said the blonde with a sad face.

“Is that so?” Krista said, coming seductively to him with a sad expression in her face, “That's a shame.”

“No, no, I still have a long way to go.”

“We’ll be the ones who die if your girlfriend sees us with you,” the blonde told him.

“No, no, I’m sure she won’t care,” he approached and hugged her by the hip “I’m free for you.” 

“What about if you call me later?”

“Of course. And I'd love your friend's number," he said, pointing to Krista with a smile. 

“It will be a pleasure” Krista took a card out of her bag and handed it to him.

“Call me later,” the blonde said and kissed the corner of his mouth, “We can have fun!”

“I believe that we will,” he said with a wink.

Jemma closed her eyes in disgust. How could she be so blatant? He was engaged but flirting with others as if he didn't have a fiance waiting for him! She felt bad about Ophelia, no woman deserved to be cheated this way.

The Doctor said goodbye to them and then went to open the car door. Jemma joined him in silence, she really felt upset with his attitude. 

“Jemma, I want you to keep this contact on the agenda. The ranking for her will be that of the VIP. Oh and have the number of her friend close to her, her name is Lillian Ambrose, it seems to me she's in the middle ranking but we'll make an exception.”

"Yes, Doctor," she said annoyed.

She wasn't supposed to take so much importance to what The Doctor did, but she couldn't avoid the anger that caused her to see him acting in this way.

“Are you okay?” Leopold asked. 

“Yes,” Jemma breathed, unconvincingly.

“Jemma?”

“Yes, Doctor?” 

“I really don’t understand your attitude, sometimes you’re kind to me and sometimes you’re drier than the goddamn Sahara!”

“I only keep distance with my boss,” she retorted. 

A few moments went by before he spoke up, “A penny for your thoughts?”

“Do you know what it’s free and very easy to do?” She snapped.

“What?”

“Respect and chivalry,”

She should’ve shut her mouth but she had just kept it in for a long time and had to let it out. When she was a little girl she didn't keep her thoughts in, she was transparent and expressed everything she felt, even when she was a self-confident teenager she used to do it all the time. Jemma missed those times, she had a large number of experiences in the past in which she would have liked to have the courage to say what she thought.

Even when The Doctor stopped the car on one side of the road and saw her with disbelief, Jemma still stood firm and was ready to defend her words. 

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” she sniffed.

“What do you mean by that? I think I've been respectful with you the whole time you’ve worked for me and...”

“Do you think it is respectful to classify your conquests as simple objects? Is it respectful how you cheat your fiance with any woman that crosses your path?”

“What I do with my personal life is not your business,” Leopold said coldly.

“I’m getting involved, I’m the one who has to do the dirty work for you by inventing excuses for your fiancée or making her wait for the women who want to talk to you. They are women with feelings, they are more than just a piece of meat made for your pleasure.”

“Why do you care about it?”

“Because I am a woman. I know that neither you nor anyone sees me as one. But I am. And above all, because I am a human. And I am empathic.” 

“What does that mean?”

“Would you like to be treated in that way? Or would you like them to treat the women in your life in that way? Would you like Ophelia to be on a list classified according to how good she is in bed? Or your mom?”

That seemed to touch a sensitive nerve in him.

“I’m sorry if I was too sincere and I understand if I lost my job, but I don’t want to be complicit in such atrocity,” she said softly.

“Is there more?”

“About what?”

“All of itll, I want to know everything you think about me.” 

Jemma blushed, there were a lot of thoughts that she had about him. She had inappropriate thoughts for his boss (like how well he looked in his outfit to play golf) and others that she couldn’t say in front of Hydra’s boss, freedom of expression died a long time ago. 

“Doctor...” 

“I’m sorry,” Leopold blurted out.

“What?”

“I'm sorry. I... You're right. And I know I'm a bastard for what I do but... It's complicated."

“Your dark past doesn’t justify your cruelty to the world. Assuming you have a dark past. Anyway...” she sighed, “I’m sorry for the disrespect, you’re my boss and I have no right to talk to you that way. When we get to The Triskelion, I'll make a formal letter."

“What? No, absolutely not!” 

“Really?”

“It’s been a long time since I met a person who is willing to be honest with me. And you are... Brilliant. We make a great team together.”

Oh dear. She was head over heels for this man. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you remember Iain’s outfit in SDCC 2019? Well... Appreciation chapter cause I’m weak with Iain in that outfit
> 
> Tons of love for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain who is the best beta for this work 
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I’m very active in there, if you want to sent me any message with suggestion, prompts or whatever :)
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	15. You forget to be kind.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Wow, that was a big statement, did it hurt?" Jemma smiled.
> 
> He liked this version of Jemma, fun, direct and secure of herself, why did she hide?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! It took me more time to finish the chapter (I wasn’t in my best mood) but it’s here! HAPPY IAIN’S DAY! 
> 
> In the lasts chapters I take a lot of elements from the telenovela, but this one is completely away for the telenovela
> 
> Beta for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain (go to read her fanfics, they’re really really good and cute)

Leopold felt strangely calm. His life constantly felt like a lie, he not only lied to all those around him but also to himself, and he missed sincerity, he missed having peace in his soul.

  
  
  


"When we get there, I'd like us to go to the lab," he told his assistant.

  
  
  


"Is there anything wrong?" Jemma asked, concerned.

  
  
  


"I want you to supervise the lab activity with me, in recent days everything has been chaos and I know that you are the only person able to put order"

  
  
  


"Doctor, I am your assistant, I have no authority in there"

  
  
  


"That will change from now on, because not only have you been promoted as my personal assistant but now you are also my personal consultant."

  
  
  


"Personal consultant? Okay, first of all, what's the difference between a personal assistant and what I’ve been doing? And second, Consultant?"

  
  


"Of course. You've been much more than the assistant to the head of Hydra all this time and it's not fair that your work doesn't have the recognition. I don't just want you to get some copies, write emails and answer calls. I want you to supervise the work that are done in the science area, when there's a problem, I'm going to turn to you so that with your knowledge you can help us get out of that problem, you will also be my right hand.You will not only help me with the administration, but also in my personal projects and you will come with me to all the important events," Leopold told her, searching her face for her reaction.

  
  
  


"Doctor, I am not the right person!" Jemma insisted.

  
  
  


"Why not? Dr. Dr. Simmons," he smirked.

  
  
  


"Because... I don't know how to deal with that kind of situation, socializing isn't..."

  
  
  


"You deserve it, you've worked very hard," Leopold argued.

  
  
  


"I'm flattered, but I'm afraid... I don't think I'm the right one to go with you at events like today's breakfast."

  
  
  


"Why not? Today you got us a big deal and you're an expert in your field of experience!"

  
  
  


"I know that, but... You know... I'm not exactly nice. Physically, I mean" Jemma said, looking down at her feet.

  
  
  


Who was the idiot who said that? Yes, it was strange to see her wearing such awful colors but her face was nice. He had strange thoughts about the face of his assistant, he had had a certain fascination with her smile since he met her but today... She wasn't wearing a single drop of makeup, Leopold just saw her naturally and it was... She was beautiful.

  
  
  


Leopold was completely captivated by her, Jemma was kind, honest, intelligent and beautiful. He wanted to be her friend, he wanted to talk to her for long hours and share his secrets, wanted to work by her side in the laboratory and make wonderful discoveries, he felt capable of actually having an interesting conversation about science with her.

  
  
  


Spending time with her in these months, working with her, had made him happier. Leopold felt lost living the life he hadn't dreamed of but that had been imposed on him, but then she came and he found a way to continue doing what he liked. 

  
  


Jemma wasn't the kind of woman he was normally attracted to and perhaps that was the best of all. She wasn't so beautiful that it caused him chills with so much perfection, she was of the kind of classical beauty and immensely interesting. And Jemma was able to make him feel, he had no need to suppress his feelings, he could express everything he felt and that included making him feel shy, ashamed, and weak, but none of that was in a bad way.

  
  
  


His head was going to explode.

  
  
  


"That doesn't define you. It doesn't make you less intelligent. It hurts me to admit it but sometimes I don’t even understand what you’re going on about. You're very intelligent,” he finished.

  
  
  


"Wow, that was a big statement, did it hurt?" Jemma smiled.

  
  


He liked this version of Jemma, fun, direct and secure of herself, why did she hide?

  
  
  


"I think I'm exceeding the limit of what’s appropriate to say to my boss, aren’t I?" Jemma asked.

  
  
  


"Actually... No. You aren’t."

  
  
  


When they left the club and Leopold had perceived her anger, he had felt achingly shy and uncomfortable at her side but now that she had shown herself honest with him, it felt perfectly easy to talk with her.

  
  
  


"The meeting with Hydra's senior officials to oversee my work is in two days' time, I will make my decision to ascend you official then," Leopold decided.

  
  
  


"Thank you."

  
  
  


"You deserve it, with your work and effort you really deserve this."

  
  
  


Leopold would meditate on all his thoughts about Jemma later. They hadn't come out of nowhere, they definitely didn't emerge simply because she looked beautiful after her friend combed her hair and removed the strange glasses, they had been there for a while. Jemma had come to him using her mind and kind soul.

__________

  
  
  


Jemma entered Hydra's dining room at 3 o'clock, after she returned from the club, The Doctor and she had gone to the lab to supervise the activities, The Doctor promised her to take her to know the area of operations later. Daisy was in her usual place and was accompanied by Bobbi and Elena..

  
  


"How did it go?" Daisy asked with a blatant smile.

  
  
  


"Do we leave for a couple of hours and you have a date with The Doctor?" Elena asked, causing Jemma to blush.

  
  
  


"I don't...! Is that what you told them, Daisy?" Jemma accused.

  
  
  


"He asked you to stay with him for breakfast at the club. It was a date," Daisy shrugged.

  
  
  


"It wasn't! It was a business breakfast!" Jemma insisted.

  
  
  


"And why did he invite you?" Bobbi asked with a suggestive smile, Jemma felt a little betrayed because she thought Bobbi would support her.

  
  
  


"It was a breakfast with Hammer Industries and he wanted my  _ advice, _ " she put emphasis on that last word.

  
  
  


"Oh, of course, The Doctor, with an ego the size of the Sun asked an assistant for help," said Daisy with heavy sarcasm, "No offence," she added on lamely.

  
  
  


"She has a point, Jemma. The doctor can be..." Bobbi trailed off.

  
  
  


"Say it!” Bobbi didn’t say anything, “ a bastard," Elena finished.

  
  
  


"There were two representatives of Hammer Industries and Hunter was there, it wasn't a date. It was nothing."

  
  
  


She was definitely not going to mention the talk they had on the road, it had been too personal and she would possibly end up admitting that she felt a certain attraction for The Doctor.

  
  
  


"Oh god, is that nothing?!" Daisy asked scandalously.

  
  
  


"He didn't take me to a date in a nice place, with candles and wine. It was a business breakfast," she tried explaining again.

  
  
  


"With the Doctor!" All three exclaimed.

  
  
  


"Will you stop screaming?" Jemma whispered, and looked around to see if anyone had heard.

  
  
  


"Then tell us how it went for you," said Bobbi, "It must be an experience to know the friendly side of The Doctor, We’ve never experience it."

  
  
  


"Friendly side? Why do you all mention the friendly side?" She sighed resignated, "Both of us are professionals, we carry a healthy coexistence and work well together. That's all. A man like him can only see me as an employee."

  
  
  


"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

  
  
  


"Well... You know, I'm not the kind of woman that The Doctor would take on a date," admitting it was a little annoying, it was a complete pity.

  
  
  


"Why not?" Bobbi asked, she seemed to not understand what Jemma was referring to.

  
  
  


"Oh please, you know, I'm not nice."

  
  
  


"You are a very nice person, we have a very nice time with you," said Daisy as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

  
  
  


"And yes, you're smart and that can intimidate men with fragile ego, but The Doctor doesn't seem terrified by your intelligence," said Elena.

  
  
  


"I didn't mean that. I was talking about what's outside. My face, my body..." Jemma trailed off, too embarrassed.

  
  
  


"What are you talking about? You're pretty," Elena said, "Especially with that hairstyle, Daisy said she fixed up your hair, it looks really good on you."

  
  
  


"You're joking, aren't you?" she asked with some mockery but the three were serious.

  
  
  


"You're smart, kind, fun, and pretty, you might like a man like The Doctor," Bobbi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "And I think you're not in your best mood to talk about him anymore, so we can leave it for another day."

  
  


__________

  
  
  


"Your friend sent the papers?" Leopold asked Jemma

  
  
  


"Yes, she arrived in time at the bank. They sent me an email, the bank said we'll have the money for today at five o'clock in the afternoon," Jemma reassured.

  
  
  


"Right on time."

  
  
  


"I'll prepare everything to start signing the checks," Jemma decided.

  
  


Leopold was mentally exhausted, his mind felt crowded with too much information and thoughts. On the one hand, there was the goddamn wedding (he didn't think he could try one more drop of wine to choose the right one for the toast), Hydra and all the stupid bureaucracy, the projects he had on hold (and that caused him chills, he really didn't want to experiment with the inhumane), and the disaster that was the area of science.

  
  
  


"Here is everything you need," Jemma said, dropping papers on his desk, "You just have to sign them, I'll be in charge of ordering them."

  
  
  


"Thank you, Jemma," Leopold said, looking into her brown eyes.

  
  
  


"I'm just doing my job," Jemma brushed him off.

  
  
  


"You've done much more than that, that's why I decided to give you the promotion."

  
  
  


"Actually, most of the time I was just being kind."

  
  
  


"It was very kind of you to personally take the papers to the club," Leopold agreed.

  
  
  


"I knew how important they were. And there was no messenger who dared to go," she muttered.

  
  
  


"I can imagine it," Leopold knew that all employees had some fear for Ophelia, she imposed respect and admiration but above all, fear.

  
  
  


"No one was willing to take me, everyone was afraid to lose their jobs. The bus trip was incredibly long and I wasn't going to be in time at the bank. And I didn't have enough cash to pay the taxi. Daisy was very kind to take me, if she hadn't had free time then I would have been in a tight situation, but I’m sure that I would have solved it."

  
  
  


"The next time you can take a car. I believe that the person in charge of Hydra's vehicles is named Kyle, just tell him you have my permission," Leopold waved off, there was no need for all of these hoops to be jumped through.

  
  
  


Jemma remained silent, Leopold turned away from the checks to see her. Jemma was flushed and seemed ashamed.

  
  
  


"Did I say something wrong? Jemma, if I said something to bother you then tell me, I don't want a misunderstanding to happen again."

  
  
  


"You didn't say anything bad, it's just..." she blushed, "I don't know how to drive," she admitted.

  
  
  


"Really?" He frowned in confusion.

  
  
  


"What does that face mean?"

  
  
  


"Nothing, I’m just surprised!" Leopold chuckled lightly.

  
  
  


"I know how ridiculous it is, but... I never had a job where I was paid enough to reason buying a car and when I was young, I didn't see the sense of learning to drive, I didn't like to go out, I was happy with my chemistry sets."

  
  
  


Leopold reflected on his offer to give her a promotion and realised that he hadn’t even mentioned her salary. Jemma was a biochemist with two phDs but she was working as an assistant, she deserved more recognition and a much better salary than the one she already had, her job deserved it. Leopold promised himself that they would talk about a salary increase once he made the announcement to the board.

  
  
  


Leopold continued to sign the checks while Jemma made sure to organize them and then take them to Veronica and get them to each employee. It was a comfortable silence, perfectly easy. He liked the ease of working with her, there was no effort required and everything felt natural, there were no hidden intentions and there was an atmosphere as transparent as water.

  
  
  


It was almost fun. Leopold didn't remember having a coworker with whom he felt so perfectly comfortable. Working with Hunter was fun but sometimes they had friction, they were good friends outside of work but their areas of experience were completely different. With Jemma, it was as if they were speaking the same language, she understood what he wanted and he didn't need to be rough with her.

  
  
  


They almost finished the formula, after months of research and experimentation, finally managed to find the perfect formula and were in the stage of developing bullet models and testing it. Although both of them were very happy to have achieved their goal, Leopold felt a little sad because they weren't going to spend so much time in the lab and that would also reduce his time with Jemma.

  
  
  


He had to find a way to continue knowing more about Jemma out of work, looking for ways to spend time with her and find the origin of the thoughts that he had been having about her.

  
  
  


"There is something I want to show you," Leopold suddenly said.

  
  
  


"To me?"

  
  
  


"Is there anyone else in the room, Jemma?" Leopold smirked.

  
  
  


"What is it?"

  
  
  


"Do you remember the designs I asked you to destroy?"

  
  
  


"Of course, I am glad I didn't. They are fantastic," Jemma said genuinely.

  
  
  


"Do you remember the drones?"

  
  
  


"Of course, a wonder of biotechnology."

  
  
  


"Hydra was only interested in controlling people and watching their every movement , so they only took a small fraction of my idea."

  
  
  


"That's... Well..."

  
  
  


"I really liked those drones, I... I want you to look at the designs and tell me your ideas, I think they could make it even better. In the past, I had to ask for authorization for any project, now I'm the boss, I can do whatever I want."

  
  
  


"Doctor..." Jemma started.

  
  
  


Maybe they were close enough for her to just refer to him as Doctor, it is not that he was bothered to be called Doctor Fitz, he was proud to have obtained his phD when he was only sixteen, but that was not the reason why he was called Doctor at Hydra. He missed the time when he was recognized and admired for being a child prodigy, now, he was only a man to fear.

  
  
  


"I don't think you have to call me Doctor all the time," he said quickly.

  
  
  


"Will I call you Leopold?" She didn't seem entirely convinced and to be honest, neither did he.

  
  
  


"No, just..." he thought for a moment. Leopold was out, a chiver went up his back when he was called Leopold. And Leo wasn't an option either, just his mom called him that and he'd feel like a punch in his stomach if Jemma called him that, "Fitz. Just Fitz is fine," he decided.

  
  
  


"Fitz?" Jemma asked, confused.

  
  
  


"Yes."

  
  
  


"Are you sure?"

  
  
  


"Of course," There was no going back now, he was Fitz to Jemma. 

  
  
  


"OK, Fitz," she emphasised the word, as if she was testing it, "I think you're giving me so much credit and activities, and don't get me wrong, I love science and really enjoy working with you in the lab, but I don't know if it's right that we should do this."

  
  
  


"Why wouldn't it be right?"

  
  
  


"Because from what you just said, you suggest that we are working on projects that are not authorised," Jemma said, she didn’t like breaking rules.

  
  
  


"I authorised them," Fitz waved her off.

  
  
  


"Is that enough?"

  
  
  


"For now, it is. And as for the fact that I'm giving you more activities, that's what I'd expect from my personal assistant."

  
  
  


"And consultant," Jemma corrected, Fitz smiled with her statement. "How does it feel to be kind?" She asked, teasingly.

  
  
  


"I don’t really remember how to be kind."

  
  
  


"It's not so difficult," she smiled at him.

  
  
  


__________

  
  
  


Jemma had fifteen minutes off, after The Doctor... No, Fitz. After Fitz finished signing the checks, he asked her to go with him to oversee the construction of the new base of operations outside the city. 

  
  
  


Jemma was a little nervous, she had a strange feeling in her stomach, The Doctor... No, Fitz. Fitz was strange, he confused her, she didn't even know how she was supposed to act when she was next to him. What she was clear about is that he definitely behaved differently with her, Fitz was kind and considerate. And he was so strange, everyone told her that Fitz had an ego the size of the Sun, that he was an idiot, that he slept with every woman that he had ever met, could become sexist, he liked suffering, and in general he was a terrible person. However, despite the fact that she herself had seen the worst facet of Fitz and was once a victim of his bad mood, she had also seen an enthusiastic, kind, clumsy, and shy scientist, a person with whom she could make a friendship.

  
  
  


Sometimes her thoughts were too dispersed.

  
  
  


Jemma looked for her phone and dialled her mother's number, Fitz told her it was going to take them a long time with the supervision for and promised that he would take her home.

  
  
  


"Jemma?" Her mum asked when she picked up the call.

  
  
  


"Hi, mum,"

  
  
  


"Hi, honey, how are you?"

  
  
  


"In fact... Pretty good," she smiled "Mum, my boss wants me to accompany him to oversee the construction of the new base of operations."

  
  
  


"At this time?!"

  
  
  


"Mum..."

  
  
  


"Honey, it's not appropriate..."

  
  
  


"For a lady, yes, I know. Mum, just... My boss trusts me and thinks my opinion is important."

  
  
  


"You're a genius, right?"

  
  
  


"That's what they say," Jemma sighed.

  
  
  


"You worry me, Jemma. I know that sometimes it seems that I'm the monster in the story and I don't let you breathe, but I just want to protect you. The world is dangerous."

  
  
  


Jemma's heart was tight on her chest. Her mother had always been very overprotective with her, but after... After THAT, her mother had become more cautious and tried to protect her even from the Sun. She really couldn't blame her, on the contrary, she was constantly blamed for causing so many worries to her mother and that's why Jemma always would try.

  
  
  


"I'll be fine, Mum. Actually... I haven't felt this good in a long time. And contrary to popular belief, the Doctor is very respectful."

  
  
  


"Let me know when you come home. And have fun," she added.

  
  
  


"Of course. And I'm just going to work, Mum."

  
  


"You like your job, don't you? You've been really happy in the last few months,"

  
  
  


"Yes, I like my job," Jemma reassured.

  
  
  


"That's fun in my dictionary. Be careful, Jemma!"

  
  
  


"Goodbye, Mum."

  
  
  


Her mom didn't know that she liked her boss, but she knew her enough to know when she was excited about something or someone. Jemma had been very shy and reserved since she finished college, in some way, she had lost all the enthusiasm she had. Jemma knew that her mum was worried about that attitude not because she didn't like to see her happy, but because the last time it happened, she ended up terribly injured; to be honest, she was also afraid, she felt so happy with the people she had met and was finding a way to work on what she liked, she felt part of something.

  
  


She was going to enjoy the moment. She had changed since then, she was not going to make the same mistakes as last time.

  
  
  


She wasn't going to let what happened with Milton happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you liked the chapter, left your kudos and comments if you do (it makes me very happy read them)
> 
> Tons of love for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain who is the best beta for this work
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I’m very active in there, if you want to sent me any message with suggestion, prompts or whatever :) (and I have a mood board for this work in there 🥰) 
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	16. There’s trouble in the air.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Jemma and Leopold are the only ones who know in detail everything that happens in Hydra. And I need access to that information.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2020 was... weird, so I hope that this year will be better for all of you ❤️
> 
> The beta of this chapter is the wonderful @bookscoffeerain (go to read her fanfics, they’re really really good and cute)

Jemma had a lot of work and she had less than twenty-four hours to finish the report they were going to present. Things weren't right and it had felt like a chain of bad news that week.

It all started when she accompanied The Doctor... No, no, Fitz. When she accompanied Fitz to the new base of ops, they realised that they were working way too late because the staff was reduced. They hadn’t considered that fact when they decided to reduce the work budget. After that there was a significant backward step in research into the vaccine against the inhumans. And, if that weren't enough, there was chaos in the streets, a rebel group had formed that went out to protest after the new anti-inhuman measures were announced.

Fitz was far from fulfilling all of his promises, which had him in a terrible mood. Besides, Jemma had noticed that he had problems with Ophelia so that also did nothing to improve his mood.

“I need the reports to put it in the folders,” Veronica said, entering into Jemma’s office without calling first.

“I still haven’t finished it,” Jemma said kindly.

“I need it right now, I’m organising the boardroom,” Veronica insisted.

“But the report won’t be ready until tomorrow,” Jemma protested.

"Hey, I have a job to do."

“And so do I. Dr. Fitz knows that the report will be ready for tomorrow and he authorised it. Don't worry, I'll take out copies of the report myself."

Veronica was furious. She hated Jemma. Ever since Leopold gave her Bakshi's position, Veronica had been unbearable, she thought she had dominance over everyone. And now she also wanted to steal her job, first the club (That was her job! She was Hydra's public image! She was the right one to go with him to those social events) and now she wanted to organise the board. For God’s sake. She even had problems with Ophelia, because of her she couldn't watch Leopold.

Veronica left the closet that was supposed to be Jemma's office, Jemma was sure she was going to complain with Ophelia. Veronica was walking outside the office when she crossed with Bakshi and inevitably stumbled upon him.

“Veronica!” he complained.

“I need the board report and the stupid one doesn’t want to give it to me. What are you doing here?”

“I have to give her some information. Since Leopold gave her all that power, I don’t even know half of what’s happening at this company anymore.” Bakshi paused, “Is she doing the whole report?”

“Yes, Leopold ordered her to do that.” 

“Does she have all the information?”

“I suppose many people came from all areas to give her the information, why?” Veronica asked, unsure of where he was going with this.

Bakshi took Veronica by the elbow and dragged her to a lonely corridor, he needed to talk to her in private. There was a possible ally in her to regain his position in Hydra and take out the bitch that was Jemma Simmons. 

“Hey! What's wrong with you?” Veronica yelled at him.

“Do you want to take that girl out of Hydra?” 

“Of course.”

“Do you know who Grant Ward is?”

“Of course I know who he is,” Veronica rolled her eyes. 

"You can not tell anyone what I'm going to say to you," Bakshi whispered urgently.

“Yes, yes, now just tell me what's happening!”

“Ward believes that all of Leopold’s goals are impossible to achieve in less than a year and we need proof of that. He promised me to be second in command if I find the necessary evidence to get Leopold out of the position. And if you help me, I'll make sure you're promoted."

It was dangerous business but Veronica knew that she should take advantage of it if she dared to accept. Veronica had been married once, to a British millionaire who had given her the life of a queen, but who one day kicked her out as if she was an object. Since then, she had fallen on hard times, financially wise, and was forced to look for a job. Although Ophelia had helped her and got her a good salary, Veronica still had lot’s of debts that were unpaid and was growing desperate. This was the best opportunity that she had had. 

“It all depends on what I have to do,” she said coyly.

“Jemma has all the information. No one has the slightest idea of what is happening in Hydra, Leopold has made sure that all we have is inconsistent fragments so that Ward didn’t know anything. She is the only one who knows anything.”

“She writes the reports.  _ And _ oversees each area,” Veronica was understanding the course of the conversation.

“Exactly. She and Leopold are the only ones who know in detail everything that happens in Hydra. And I need access to that information.” 

“All of that must be on her computer.”

“Yes, exactly,” Bakshi grinned slyly, she was starting to get it. 

“What do you need me to do?”

“I need you to get on that computer and get the information.”

Veronica was beginning to think seriously about joining Bakshi. Ward had been kind to her, in fact, she liked Ward and they had had a good time together the night they went for some drinks. 

Veronica still had her many financial problems. Since she got divorced, the extravagant life she had known was over, she had to look for a job and was tired of not having enough money. Maybe she could resolve her entire economic situation with Ward, as well as revenge on Jemma Simmons. With Jemma out of the way she could watch Leopold and keep Ophelia happy.

“I may have an idea,” she decided.

__________

Jemma felt her fingers numb as she quickly typed to finish the report for the board while Fitz was busy trying to solve the budget problems of the new ops installation. 

She knew that Fitz's mood wasn’t going to get better, in the report she realised that he was far from achieving his goals and at this point it was almost impossible for him to fulfil everything he had promised for the first year and the executives would see that too. That didn’t mean that things in Hydra were bad, on the contrary, Hydra was better than ever, just not in the way that Fitz promised.

Jemma was sleepy, her back hurt after a long day of work. Jemma missed the laboratory. She had quickly become accustomed to accompanying Fitz to supervise the activity and developing the formula for the dendrotoxin. Drones would have to wait until after the board, but Jemma was still very excited to start the job.

It was about eight o'clock at night when Fitz arrived at the office, she was still finishing the report for the board.

“You’ll finish it in time?” Fitz asked.

“Of course!”

Fitz looked down at his shoes, “Do you think everyone will be happy?” 

“Doctor...”

“Fitz,” he corrected.

“Oh, yes. I'm sorry, sometimes I forget. Fitz, you're not gonna make it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You're not gonna make it. Not without putting Hydra into financial madness and... It's going to be very difficult, the chances are very low.”

“But it is possible.”

“Oh Fitz,” Jemma said sadly, looking at his big blue, hopeful eyes. 

“We have to cling to that possibility!” Fitz protested.

He was the boss, and Jemma had no choice but to listen to him.

“Call the economist then, you need a good business plan,” she tried.

“No, no, no one can know about this!”

“Fitz, we are stepping on unknown territory. We don’t know anything about economics!”

“We know the basics. It will have to be enough.”

Jemma decided not to make another comment on it. Fitz was too stubborn, and she was too, it was inevitably going to end up in an argument and she couldn’t argue with her boss. Yes, they did have a closer relationship, but Fitz was still her boss and Jemma couldn’t let herself be carried away like that.

Jemma may have let herself be carried away when she discovered that she had a certain attraction for him and she began to explore her feelings. She liked to make him nervous, he was cute when he was being clumsy. Jemma also liked the appearance he had in the last few days, they had had so much work, which didn’t give him time to shave properly, and his beard seemed more disorderly.

And once again, she let herself be carried away by her thoughts, she shook herself out of the daydream 

“Jemma, I have to ask you for a favor,” Fitz cleared his throught.

“What kind of favor?”

“The executives of Hydra can’t know anything about this.”

“Tomorrow is the board, you won’t make significant progress in less than twenty-four hours,” Jemma pointed out sensibly. 

“No, but we can pretend that it would.”

“What are you talking about?” 

Fitz breathed in deeply before he broke the news to her, “I need you to change all the data.”

“You need me to do what?! I don't-- You want me to lie?!”

“Something like that. I'm going to lie. You just have to change the data so that everyone believes we're doing wonderfully.”

“I’m still going to be part of the lie!” Jemma pointed out, her voice a too loud.

“Can you stop shouting?”

“I’m not going to do that. Fire me if you want, but I can't do that, I can’t lie. I'm going to get into a lot of trouble if someone finds out that I did it.” 

“You have to do it. This isn’t an order, it’s a favor. Please, Jemma, Ward's gonna take my job off if I don't achieve all of the things I promised. Jemma, I've worked for this all my life, I can't lose it," he pleaded.

It was the sincerity in his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes, that ended up melting her heart. Fitz could have a terrible attitude most of the time and also be a professional liar, but he also had times when he was completely honest and easy to guess what he was feeling.

“Please,” he said again.

“I can get into trouble!” 

"I swear I'm never going to tell anyone it was you if I get caught, I'll take all the responsibility."

Jemma wasn't as stupid as he thought. Of course he was going to betray her if it was necessary. She was beginning to think of a way of protecting herself in case Fitz betrayed her, to be honest, he had convinced her to lie since he had first mentioned Ward's name.

“You and I are the first to read this information. And executives read what we want them to read!”

"I have to... I have to change the data of absolutely everything. Of all Hydra bases and also of each division, everything has to coincide... I can't believe I let you convince me"

“I promise, you will not be involved after this. And I'll help you to do everything!”

It took longer than she would have imagined. They had to change all the information, and they had to hide the real information in the system while leaving no trace of anything.

It was 11 p.m. when they managed to change all of the information from Hydra in Asia. Jemma had sent a message to her mother saying that she was fine and she would be late, but she had too much work. She had to lie a little telling her that she was running some tests in the lab and it would take a while. 

“I really regret letting you convince me to do this,” Jemma said while serving a cup of coffee.

They both agreed that it wasn’t nice to spend hours in the small closet that Jemma called her office, so they went to Fitz’s office, made coffee and continued to work. Eventually the stress became too much.

“I hate coffee,” Fitz said, “But it keeps me awake.”

“We’re going with Africa?” 

“No, I did it while you were with China.”

“God, China was really... It was difficult.”

“And we still haven’t gotten to New York,” Fitz said with a sigh.

“I can’t believe you had this idea one day before the board meeting!” Jemma groaned, rubbing her eyes from the strain of looking at a computer all day.

“We can do it. We already have three continents, only two more and we’re finished!”

“Oh no, we still have to do the report for the board,” Jemma realized.

“It’s right now when I regretted Hydra’s reach. If we were a smaller organisation, we would have less information and we would probably have finished by now,” Fitz agreed.

“Or we could leave it for now if you only presented the real information. We would have gone to sleep early and with a calm conscience. Why don't you just deliver the actual information? Hydra is not doing that terribly, things are going pretty well, even with the delays in certain areas.” 

“But it is not enough! I promised more and I have to give them that!” Fitz explained.

“But if you explain to them they may understand,” Jemma tried to reason.

“No, Jemma,” he said seriously, “They are not like that.”

Fitz decided that he had had enough at 2 in the morning. Jemma was falling asleep on his desk and even though she looked cute, he wasn't going to let her sleep on the hard desk’s surface.

“We’re close to the end?” Jemma asked, deliriously.

“We still have to do the general report that we are going to present to the board!” She insisted.

They had changed all the information that Hydra had so that when Ward would consult them everything would match perfectly, Fitz had encrypted all the real information and locked the files in physical.

"Jemma, you can leave," Fitz said softly.

"No, no, we're almost done!"

"You're about to fall asleep," Fitz chuckled.

“You too,” she pointed out.

“We can finish tomorrow,” Fitz reasoned.

“It’s obvious that you’ve never done a report for a board,” she said, “I’ve been making the one with the _ real _ information for more than a day!” 

“We should take a break to clear our minds,” Fitz suggested.

“A break? We don’t have time.”

“What do you suggest?”

“Be honest! Tell them that we’re a little behind schedule, you'll feel much better.”

“I’ll feel worse if I lose all of this,” Fitz gestured to his ginormous office.

“Ugh, they can't be so bad. I mean, yes, they are evil and the most despicable humans...” she stopped talking.

Fitz thought exactly the same thing, most of the time he was horrified by everything Hydra made and he felt disgusted by being part of it. The owner of it even.

“Say it, Jemma. They are the worst people on Earth.” She remained silent, “I have seen your face when you read about the projects they are carrying out. I see the look of horror in your eyes when we go to the lab and they explain in detail how we will make people suffer. I'm not a bastard completely, I know the damage we're doing," Fitz said bitterly. 

“Fitz...”

“I know that you will never dare to say what you really think of Hydra and much less in front of me. For my part, I will simply forget what you said.” 

“Okay...” Jemma said, unsure of where he was going with this.

Fitz wanted to tell her all about his conscience, how empty he felt, how he just wanted to free himself from the pressures this company had placed on him. But he couldn't do it. That was showing weakness and it was something he couldn't afford, his father would be very disappointed in him if he let himself be carried away by those feminine feelings.

“We should continue, we’re almost finished,” Jemma gently said.

“ “Almost” is not the word I would use,” Fitz grumbled.

__________

Veronica was waiting for the right moment.

She had been talking to Bakshi about their plan to sabotage Jemma and they were patiently waiting for the right time to put the plan in action.

Veronica set out to arrive at eight o'clock in the morning, not only did she have to give a good impression to Leopold but also she had to wait for the right moment to enter Jemma’s closet.

Leopold arrived at eight thirty-two in the morning, Jemma arrived only four minutes later and to Veronica’s surprise, Leopold didn’t shout at her upon arriving late. Jemma had freedom. When Veronica arrived only two minutes late she received a lot of screams and Jemma received a smile.

“Do you know what you’re going to do?” Bakshi asked.

“Yes, I was just waiting for you to bring the instructions,” Bakshi gave her a post it.

“I made a deal with one of the engineers, his name is Brow. He gave me these instructions to sabotage her computer in case the files are encrypted. When they realise that the computer is failing you have to make sure to call Brown, he's going to take out all the information.”

“Are you sure no one will know?” Veronica asked, uneasy.

“He will take care of the security cameras, I will send you a message when everything is ready”

“I thought I had to wait for her to come out.”

“No, I’ll call her to go to my office and then you’ll come in. Wait for my signal,” Bakshi rolled his eyes. 

“What about Leopold?”

“He’s\ busy with the board.”

“Alright... I guess it’ll be easy.”

“I hope so.” 

“Ward knows about this?” Veronica verified.

“He only asked me to look for the information, I didn’t tell him how we’re it or that you’re part of it.”

__________

Jemma had arrived at her house at three and twenty in the morning, Fitz had called a taxi for her and told her that there was no problem if she arrived at nine in the morning instead of at eight, but Jemma decided that she had to arrive early to finish with the last details of the report.

She was tired, had barely slept, and her mind was about to explode after all the information she read along with Fitz the night before.

“I hope they’re not sugar-free biscuits,” Fitz said while she left on her desk the biscuits she bought every day for him “I really need sugar,” Fitz smiled at the reference to the night they had just had together.

“Oh no, I was generous this time. They’re chocolate,” Jemma returned his smile.

Fitz could be a baby when she gave him gluten-free or sugar-free cookies, and she had tried many combinations and flavors but until now he had liked none of them.

“They’re good,” he said while he took another one, “Where do you buy them? I love them, every day I wake up thinking about what horrendous gluten free creation you will bring me,” Fitz teased. ”

“There is a coffee shop not far from here, the tea is good, I’ll go there every morning before coming to work. They have a sugar-free and gluten-free selection that is really worth it,” Jemma ignored the sarcasm.

“They can’t even be called biscuits. It's a sacrilege for good food."

“I hope you think the same thing when you have diabetes,” she said with some mockery, “Do you have the hard drive? We need to start working on the report”

“Of course,” he opened one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out the hard drive on which they had saved everything “All yours,” 

“I’ll start immediately,” Jemma promised.

“Sure.”

Jemma entered the closet and immediately went to work, she hated doing anything at the last minute and she really needed to finish that report before the board meeting. Fitz and Hunter had to review it before entering the board to be able to know the information forward and back, so it had to be ready even before the board meeting. 

Despite the tiredness, she managed to work quickly, and was almost finished when they came in at ten in the morning. The board was at 12 in the afternoon, Fitz and Hunter would only have a little time to study the report but it would still be enough, everyone on the board would agree with what they were going to present.

Although Jemma still felt guilty for being part of this lie.

“Hey, girl” she really didn’t want to hear Veronica’s contempt.

“Yes?” She asked in the kindest tone she could offer. 

“Bakshi needs you.”

“Mr. Bakshi? For what?”

"He only said he had to give you some information."

“Can you tell him he can send it to me in an email?” 

"Hey, I'm just giving you the message, I'm not your assistant."

“I’m really busy,” Jemma gestured to her computer and the piles of papers surrounding her.

“Then you should be the one who explains to Leopold that information is missing in the report,” Veronica sneered.

Perhaps that information could improve the report, so she had no choice but to go to Bakshi. Jemma still had time to finish, she could afford this small distraction.

__________

Veronica waited for Jemma to go down the elevator to slip into the office. Jemma left the file open with the board report,and had made sure to save a copy before starting to look for what Bakshi asked.

Just as they expected, all files were encrypted or at least had a security password to enter, so she took out the post-it with the instructions Brown gave Bakshi and followed all the steps.

“Let’s hope it worked,” she murmured when she finished, Veronica typed some gibberish in the computer, and smiled in satisfaction to see that everything had worked exactly as they had planned..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! What do you think?! I love to read the comments ❤️
> 
> Tons of love for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain who is the best beta for this work and a wonderful human 
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I’m very active in there, if you want to sent me any message with suggestion, prompts or whatever :) (and I have a mood board for this work in there 🥰)
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	17. Don’t freak, just breathe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jemma left the boardroom and went to her office, ashamed, hurt. Until now, she had an untouchable reputation and in a few moments everything had collapsed. Mostly, she felt awful for disappointing Fitz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HERE COMES THE ANGST, so hold your sits, make some tea and try to relax  
> (Maybe, just maybe, I listen the drama song of Betty la fea while I was writing)
> 
> The beta is the lovely @bookscoffeerain (go to read her jobs, she is the queen of fluff)

Going with Bakshi turned out to be a waste of time, he had only one satisfaction test and it didn’t contribute anything to the report.

“Jemma!” Fitz screamed when she entered the office “Where were you?!”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Bakshi said that he had an information for me,” Jemma tried to explain.

“Did it improve the report?”

“No, just...” She trailed off.

“Then, why are you wasting time?!” Fitz yelled. Jemma was freaked out, it’s been a time since he yelled at her.

“Are you okay?”

“No! My father and the executives arrived, they are in the boardroom and are hoping that we can start the board meeting sooner than planned,” he rubbed his eyes, frustrated.

“It’s okay, I'm almost finished, give me two minutes and I’ll start printing the copies for the board. We can start earlier than expected and everything will be okay,” she reassured, calmly.

“Hurry up!” Fitz snapped, she flinched and went on her way.

Jemma tried to stay calm and went to her office, Fitz was stepping on her heels, obviously he was eager to have the report in his hands. She took a seat at her desk, she was almost finished with the report, all she would have to do would be adding a few more details and then it would be finished..

Jemma tried to access the documents but the system wouldn’t allow it, she tried to access the encrypted files using the tricks she had learned from Daisy to access them.

“Oh no,” she murmured when the system restarted.

“Oh, no? What does that mean?” Fitz asked, the concern in his voice rising.

“I... It turned off,” Jemma weakly said.

“It turned off? What does that mean? Why did it turn off?!”

“I don’t know!” She said, exasperated, while trying to turn on the computer, “When I left everything was fine!”

“This doesn’t seem fine!” Fitz pointed out.

“I know!” She tried to turn on the computer but the only thing she got was a long string of binary code, “I don't know what’s going on, I... Everything was in order before I was gone!”

“It is evidently not anymore!”

“I have no idea what might have happened!” Jemma protested.

Fitz took a deep breath, “Is it the computer or the hard drive?” He asked, rationally.

"I think the computer."

“Then use my computer!”

“Yes, yes, immediately,” Jemma said, getting up.

Both ran, Jemma almost missed Fitz’s chair when she arrived at Fitz's desk. Her hands were shaking as she tried to enter the hard drive files.

“I can’t... I don’t... I don’t know what’s going on!”

“Try to fix it!” Fitz said, growing impatient.

“I’m trying!” Jemma shot back.

“Don’t yell at me! Fix this stupid problem!”

Now she was indignant. And a little hurt. In the recent months she had learned to trust Fitz and almost dared to consider him a friend, and here he was screaming at her, belittling her.

“I can’t,” she said with a trembling voice when the computer turned off “I don’t know what’s going on.”

“I suppose you have a backup, so get to work on that and give me whatever you can get done in five minutes,” Fitz sighed

“I... I don’t have a backup.””

“What?!”

“I have a backup of the original report... But everything we edited in the morning was on this hard drive,” Jemma was shaking.

“How could you be so stupid?! Everyone knows that you have to do a back up!” Fitz’s face was red.

“I thought it would be better not to have a copy of the information we edited!”

“Don’t yell at me!”

“You are the one who is yelling!”

“Because you’re so stupid!” Fitz approached her and motioned for Jemma to get up, she obliged and sat at the chair where Jemma was sitting, and started typing quickly on the computer trying to find a solution.

“I am not stupid! I just use my goddamn brain and realized it wasn’t prudent to make a thousand copies of such dangerous information. I was trying to save you," Jemma stood up for herself. 

“Well! Congratulations! Now we don't have a report and the executives are going to kill me!" He showed her the computer monitor, there was only code but no file.

Jemma felt guilty and hurt, she blamed herself for what happened, and now Fitz was in big trouble. By the end of the day, she would probably be unemployed again, not him.

“Leopold,” Veronica said, opening the door “Executives are waiting in the boardroom.”

"Tell them I'll be with them in a minute," Fitz waved her off.

“Is there something wrong? Both of you seem very tense.”

“The hard drive broke,” Fitz explained, “Call someone to come and fix it.”

“Of course,” Veronica quickly left the office.

“I’m sorry, I don’t... I don’t know what happened,” Jemma tried to explain “You have to have a solution.”

"For your sake, I hope so," he said sternly.

Jemma would lie if she said her legs weren’t shaking, she was terrified.

“Leopold,” called Veronica from the door “The engineer Brown is here, he’s going to check the hard drive.”

“Doctor, good morning, what happened?” Brown asked as he came in.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have called you. Hurry up, we don't have time for this.”

“Of course, I’ll just be a moment,” Brown sat in front of the computer.

“I was working on a document for the board report and I left for a moment. I saved all the files to the hard drive and turned off the computer. When I came back, it was impossible for me to access the files,” Jemma explained. 

“Do you have passwords and keys to access?” Brown asked Jemma.

“Yes,” Jemma answered confidently. 

“Something is definitely wrong,” Brown said while typing, “I’ll have to take it to the lab and check it,” he disconnected the hard drive from the computer.

“Do whatever you need to do but fix it,” Leopold ordered, coldly.

“Of course, Doctor.”

“How long will it take?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll start working on it right now.”

“Listen to me, on that hard drive is the report for the board with the heads of Hydra. All of your bosses,” he added, “The board expected us to start at 11, 3 minutes ago,. you’re already out of time,” Fitz said, threateningly.

“I’ll try to hurry,” Brown reasureed.

“Don’t try! Do it!”

“Yes, Doctor,”

Jemma was worried when Brown and Veronica left the office, Fitz was still very angry and she was a little scared to be all alone with his anger. 

“Bloody hell! Next time you work on a computer, use your goddamn brain and make back ups!"

“Yes! I know! And don't keep yelling at me because I get more nervous and I can't think! Just stop!” She couldn't hold herself, she was on the edge.

__________

“What are you doing sitting there? Go with the engineer! I need you to report me on everything that is happening.”

“Yes, Doctor,” she replied, and quickly left. 

He felt a pinch of pain, he had become accustomed to being called Fitz, it had felt good to hear his name coming out of her mouth with that beautiful English accent.

Before he did or said another stupid thing, Fitz left his office to go to the boardroom. He had to find a way to distract his father and Ward, it was probably their idea to start the board sooner than planned. They want to see him fail.

“Leopold,” said Ophelia with a seductive tone.

“Hey,” he tried to smile. “Good morning, everyone,” he greeted all the executives who stood up to welcome him “I’m so sorry to tell you that the hard drive we were working on the report was damaged and is now being taken to fix.”

“The report’s not ready?” Ward asked, “Wow what a coincidence,” Fitz tightened his fists trying to contain his anger, “However, I have to make some calls, is there any private place I can go to?”

“Ward, feel free to use my office,” Leopold gestured.

“Your office? The Hydra Director's office?" Ward kept his tone of mockery, “We hope that by the end of the day you will still have that title. I am sure we are all anxious to see that report.”

"I’m sure you are.”

__________

“Mr Ward!” Bakshi called.

Ward was walking to Leopold's office when he heard Bakshi running behind him. He was certainly interested in talking to Bakshi, he was his man inside Hydra.

“I need to talk to you,” he said, catching his breath.

“Perfect, because I do too.”

Both entered Leopold’s office, Ward made sure to put the latch at the door and then went to sit in Leopold's chair. He enjoyed feeling the power, he thought that very soon, this would be his office.

“What did you discover?”He asked Bakshi.

“Nothing, Leopold has taken away from me all the power that I used to have. We tried to get the information out of the hard drive but everything was encrypted.”

“The hard drive that is damaged?” Ward connected the dots.

“Yes,” Bakshi laughed.

“Why are you laughing?”

“I...”

“You did it?”

“No, I wasn’t going to dirty my hands doing that job, I sent someone to do it. It was the only way to get those documents. If she wants the engineer to solve the problem, she has to give him all the passwords,” Bakshi explained. He waited for an answer but Ward didn’t speak,, he cleared his throat and continued, “The engineer is going to take out all that information for us, which will allow us to study it and know what exactly is going on, what do you think?”

“Disgusting,” Ward sneered.

“But why? You asked me to get the information and this was the only way!”

“I don’t like to dirty my hands with issues like this. I'm interested in knowing the results, not the methods. I don't want to get involved if someone finds out what you did.”

“I work very discreetly. The engineer is someone I completely trust.”

“Okay, leave me alone.”

__________

Jemma was biting her nails while she was watching Brown check the hard drive, every part of her body was shaking.

“It has a lot of serious damage. I need time to fix it... So I recommend that you cancel the board,” he side eyed her. 

“No! Absolutely not, I have to deliver that report today,” Jemma insisted.

“I have to back up all of the data and then actually solve the problem. That takes time. And, I need the passwords to access all encrypted files,” he added.

"But... I can't give that to you."

“Without that, I can do absolutely nothing. And I'll have to tell the Doctor that you don't want to cooperate,” Brown dryly said.

Jemma didn’t want to disappoint Fitz anymore, she had caused him enough trouble for a day. Jemma had to find a way to save him from all this disaster.

“Alright, do you have paper and pencil?” She muttered.

While she was writing all of the passwords down to access all her files, Brown received a call and Jemma figured that he was talking to someone inside the boardroom because he promised to go immediately to give a report on the situation with the hard drive.

“These are all my passwords,” she told him and gave him the post-it note.

“Excellent. I have to go to the boardroom to explain the situation.”

“Let's go then, I have to go to the boardroom as well.”

Jemma felt like she walking straight towards her death as she went to the boardroom.

“Good morning to everyone,” Brown greeted when they arrived in the boardroom.

“Brown, finally, do you have the report?” Fitz asked urgently..

“Doctor, I'm afraid the report is not ready. The hard drive is pretty badly damaged. I have to pass all the files from the disk to a new one.“

“How long is that going to take?”

“Early tomorrow probably.”

“No! I need it right now!” Fitz was throwing a fit.

“I understand, but the hard drive really has some quite serious damage on it,” Brown shrugged.

“And why did that happen?”

“Bad handling;”

“Excuse me?!” Jemma, outraged by Brown’s insinuation “How dare you?!”

“I'm sorry, but that's just the diagnosis. If you'll excuse me, I have to go to do my job,” Brown left the room.

Jemma looked at Fitz, but Fitz wasn't watching her, instead he was looking at his father. Jemma was surprised, he looked even more terrified than she was.

“We have just had the shortest and most useless board in Hydra’s recent history,” Ward proudly said, “It’s a shame that we all have come here in vain. Especially you, Alistair, it really is a pity you've crossed the whole Atlantic for this.”

“We can have the board tomorrow,” Hunter quickly said.

“I have a very tight agenda. Just send me the report as soon as you have it ready,” Ward said with arrogance.

“What a mess,” Bakshi agreed, feigning a disappointed face..

Jemma left the boardroom and went to her office, ashamed, hurt. Until now, she had an untouchable reputation and in a few moments everything had collapsed. Mostly, she felt awful for disappointing Fitz.

“Jemma!” Daisy greeted her.

“Hey...”

“Are you okay?” Daisy asked, concerned.

“I... No. Today there was a board with the executives, and the hard drive with the report was kept, it broke down,” Jemma managed out.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No. I need to be alone.”

__________

“Gentlemen, I propose that we go to see the construction of the new operations facilities, so that your visit is not in vain,” Fitz said, grasping at something to keep the men busy.

Fitz couldn’t stand the disappointment in the eyes of all executives before him, he felt pressure on his chest, like the beginning of a panic attack. He tried to remember his mother's voice, she used to calm him, and Fitz remembered her whenever he felt anxiety flooding his body.

“Well, I guess it’s worth it,” Whitehall said, “I’d like you to show us a little bit of the lab before we go to the operations facilities.”

“It would be a pleasure. Ophelia, can you take them? I’d like to go to my office to get some papers first,”

“Sure,” she came up to him and kissed his cheek, “It seems that that ugly duckling is not as efficient as you believed,” she hissed in his ear.

Yes, maybe Ophelia was right.

Fitz left the boardroom and went to Jemma’s office, he had to talk to Jemma.

Jemma was looking for something in the drawers in her desk, she looked nervous, her hands were shaking and her breath was noisy.

“Jemma, I want you to give me my work agenda,” he said without a hint of warmness in his voice.

“Yes, Doctor,” she said and went looking for it, “Where did I put it?” she murmured. Fitz was ashamed for putting her in this state, Jemma seemed hurt and he felt guilty. Jemma was the hardest worker in this company.

“Jemma...” He started.

"Doctor, I'm so sorry... I... I swear that I didn’t damage that hard drive."

"That's not your fault, but it is your fault that you didn't back up."

“It’s not going to happen again,” she said, her voice breaking, on the verge of tears. 

“Jemma,” he approached her, “Do you realize what you have just lost? Now I have no way to talk to executives and tell them you've been promoted.”

“But I don’t care about a promotion,” she said with her bright eyes pooling with tears, “I care about you. Your image. Your family... I'm so sorry,” she finally let a sob escape and tears fell down her cheeks.

"Hey, don't cry," he awkwardly said. He pulled his handkerchief out of his bag and gave it to her, "Don’t cry, it’ll be okay."

“Thank you,” Jemma said, embarrassed to be crying in front of her boss. But Fitz was more than that.

“I’m going to go with the executives, they want to see the lab."

“Okay.”

Fitz looked at her one last time before leaving her office, he had to pick up his car keys and his briefcase. Fitz was going to have to make a huge effort to make sure all of the executives were happy after this incident. But he knew that no matter what he did, his father wasn't going to forgive this mistake, he wasn't going to stop telling him how useless he was.

__________

Jemma was trying to calm down, her breathing was returning to it’s normal rhythm. Now she was trying to find a solution to this whole mess, she was completely immersed in her thoughts, until she heard a knock at her door.

“Come in,” she called.

“Jemma, it’s us,” Bobbi said coming into her closet.

“Hey, what happened? Daisy said you had a problem,” Elena said.

Jemma told them everything that had happened with Fitz, and her friends listened carefully to her.

"He’s such a dick!" Daisy said,, "Did he blame you just like that?"

“Yes!” Jemma agreed, glad that at least someone was on her side.

“Who was the one who told the Doctor it was you?” Bobbi asked.

“The engineer Brown,” all three grimaced, “What’s going on?” Jemma asked, confused.

“Well... Let's just say he's a bitter guy,” Elena said, “Since his wife left him to be with his best friend, he seems to be trying to take revenge on the world.”

“Why didn’t you consult with another engineer?” Bobbi asked, “You should consult another engineer.”

“Brown won’t let anyone get involved in his business,” Daisy pointed out.

“Girls,” said Elena with a smile, “Do you remember the man I’ve been dating?”

“Of course,” Daisy said.

“He is an engineer, and a very good one, might I add. Maybe he can help us.”

“Really?” Jemma asked with a little ray of hope.

“Yeah, we can call him and ask him if he can help us,” Elena said.

“Please, thank you so much.”

Elena pulled out her cell phone and dialled a number, “Hola, turtle man” she said with teasing the man on the other side of the call. She exchanged a few words with him, obviously flirting, before she mentioned the problem they had, “Explain to him what happened,” Elena said to Jemma and gave Jemma the phone.

“Hello,” greeted Jemma with a trembling voice, “I am Jemma Simmons.”

“Hi, Jemma. My name is Alphonso Mackenzie but you can call me Mack, what do you need from me.”

“Yes, okay so, what happened was that I was working on a hard drive and...” Jemma described everything that had happened step by step, she didn’t miss any detail about what happened before going to Bakshi’s office, nor what happened when she and Fitz tried to get into the hard drive. 

“I don’t think it’s damaged, actually, I don’t think it’s a problem in the hardware, it looks like it’s been blocked,” Mack concluded.

“Could you fix it?”

“Yes, but I think I should talk to a hacker to be able to fix it. Elena mentioned that she has a hacker friend, do you think I could talk to her?"

“Of course. Give me a second,” Jemma turned off the cell phone’s speaker and went to Daisy, “He says it could be a problem with the software, not the hardware, he wants to talk to you.”

“Oh, sure,” she took the cell phone from Jemma’s hands and unmuted themselves, “Hello, it’s Daisy!”

Jemma was biting her fingers while watching Daisy talking to Mack, she seemed very concentrated, she even took a post-it note and a pencil and started making notes. Maybe they could find a solution to all of this.

“Yes, I think I understood and I know what to do. So, do you think this takes a long time?” Jemma eagerly waited for the answer, focused on Daisy’s expression, “Really?” Daisy said with a smile, “Thank you, Mack. I'm handing you to Elena now.”

“What did he say to you?” asked Jemma quickly.

“That will only take us about an hour or so. And he also said that even if the damage was so serious, it doesn’t take a long time to get all the information out.”

“And what are we going to do?” Bobbi asked.

“He gave me instructions. We have to go take the hard drive, but then I think I can solve the problem.”

Jemma smiled again. They could save this disaster, they could solve it.

The four girls quickly left the office, they had to fix this as quickly as possible. They quickly found Brown’s office.

“Hi. I need to take my hard drive,” Jemma said quickly, which surprised Brown.

“What are you talking about? To where?”

"To my office," she said simply.

“No, no, I’m working on it, you can't take it. It’ll be ready tomorrow morning and I'll be happy to take it to your office then.”

"We talked to an engineer who gave us a solution and I need it back right now," Jemma said confidently.

“Who?”

“It’s none of your business,” Daisy snapped, “He gave me instructions and I’m going to fix it myself.”

“Absolutely not,” Brown said.

“Why not?” Elena asked.

“Because Hydra has very specific rules on privacy. There’s a reason there are levels. You can’t do that.”

“Please, this is an emergency. I need the information, and I can't wait until tomorrow," Jemma pleaded.

“I don’t care. It's forbidden" he walked to the door, “Now, if I may, I’m going to look for a snack.”

“If you want I can call Dr. Fitz to authorize the switch,” Jemma suggested..

“Call it in if you want, but it will still be forbidden. Now, I’m going to go look for my snack.”

Bobbi and Elena came in front of the door so that Brown wasn’t able to leave the office, Daisy took out her phone and gave it to Jemma.

“Answer, please,” she murmured to herself while waiting for him to answer.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it's me, Jemma”

“What’s going on, Jemma?”

“There is the possibility of taking information out of the hard drive, but I need your authorization to take the hard drive to my office and allow Daisy to take care of it.”

“Daisy is your friend? The one that took you to the club?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can.”

“Do you think you can tell that to Brown? He says it's forbidden."

"I'm going there, wait for me,” Fitz told her.

Jemma hung up the call, “Doctor Fitz is coming here,” she announced.

“I won’t wait, I’m going for my snack.”

“Absolutely not, the Doctor is on his way, you can’t ignore an order,” Daisy said, smirking.

“None of you are going to give me orders,” he said “Much less a...” he seemed to meditate on the word before saying it, “Lady, with such a dubious reputation in this company”

Daisy smiled at him before punching his face, Bobbi, Elena and Jemma gasped surprised when Brown fell to the ground, even Daisy seemed surprised.

“I didn’t mean to knock him out. Tell me that I didn’t kill him."

Bobbi bowed to review his pulse “He’s alive.”

“We have to wake him!” Elena said.

“Why did you do that?” Jemma asked, terrified.

“Because I hate when someone mentions the stupid rumor that Ward created!”

“Rumour?” Jemma asked.

"Yes, I didn't want to sleep with him ages ago, and that hurt his ego."

“I found this,” Elena said, as she opened a bottle of water and threw it on to Brown’s face, he immediately woke up.

“What is happening here?!” Fitz asked as he came into the office.

“She hit me!” Brown complained, pointing to Daisy.

“It was for a good cause!” Daisy protested.

“The thing is that he wanted to go out for a snack even though we told him that you were coming to his office and began to bother us,” Bobbi explained, “We had to stop him.”

“Stop me? They tried to kill me.”

“Brown, give the hard drive to the girls and then go for your goddamn snack.”

“But the rules...”

“I don’t care about the goddamn rules! I'm giving you an order. Do you have any objections?" Brown remained silent, “If you are not able to solve a problem like this, the girls have to seek a more efficient service.”

“The damage is serious!” Brown reminded them

“Daisy can remove the files in less than an hour,” Jemma shot back.

"But Doctor..."

“Give the girls the hard drive,” Fitz ordered.

“Yes, Doctor,” he grumbled.

Jemma smiled when Brown went to look for the hard drive and disconnected it from his computer and then gave it to her, Jemma gave it to Daisy.

“You can use my office, hurry up,” Fitz said.

"Yes, Doctor," said the four of them. 

“How long will it take you?”

“If you only need the report, maybe twenty minutes,” said Daisy.

“You have fifteen. I'll go to entertain the executives,” Fitz decided.

"Will you tell them that we already have the report?"

“No, not until I have the report in my hands. Hurry up.”

The four girls gave Brown a blatant smile and left immediately to go to Fitz' office. As soon as they arrived, Daisy immediately went to work. Jemma saw her typing quickly, Daisy barely turned her gaze away from the computer and was only distracted to see the instructions written in the post-it.

“Is it this?” she asked, opening a file.

“Yes!” Jemma squealed, excitedly, “Please print it out.”

“There it goes,” she said, pressing the command to print “Bobbi, Elena, help her to organize the papers while I continue working on this.

“I’ll go get the folders,” Jemma said.

After they collected the copies, all three quickly began to organize the papers according to the order that Jemma told them.

“Daisy, we’re going to go put these in the boardroom,” Elena said, pointing to the folders.

“Uh huh,” she waved them off, and continued typing furiously., 

The three girls ran to the boardroom quickly.

“Call the Doctor, we’ll be in charge of ordering,” Elena told Jemma.

Jemma pulled out her phone and looked for Fitz's number, he immediately answered “Hi. Everything is ready,” she breathed.

“Really?”

“Really. You can bring everyone to the boardroom. Everything is ready.”

"Jemma, you're the best!"

Jemma tried to hide her blush and her grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? I enjoyed this chapter so much, writing it was very fun! 
> 
> Tons of love for the wonderful @bookscoffeerain who is the best beta for this work and a wonderful human
> 
> I have a tumblr account http://agentemaria4722.tumblr.com/ and I’m very active in there, if you want to sent me any message with suggestion, prompts or whatever :) (and I have a mood board for this work in there 🥰)
> 
> Also I have an Instagram account, it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message with suggestions I will answer you @bloodycosmossss


	18. You held me down, but I got up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For years, Jemma had been criticising her own physical appearance, there was not a single day in which she didn't see herself in the mirror and judge herself because she didn’t like how she looked. But in the last few days she had noticed that she cared less and less. Her college ‘friends’ were wrong, Milton was wrong. Even she was wrong. There were people who appreciated her and considered her to be a wonderful person.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you enjoyed this as I enjoyed it while I was writing it 🥰  
> This chapter is unbeta and I have to remind you that English is not first language, I’m very open with suggestions.

"I have no words to express how thankful I am of you for everything," Jemma said while she was walking with Bobbi and Elena back to Fitz's office "I just- Thank you so much."

"It's nothing," Elena waved off.

"Jemma!"

Fitz was running toward her, he seemed quieter, which made Jemma smile. She had been so concerned about disappointing him, Fitz had trusted her and appreciated her abilities, he valued her as a scientist, and he was very kind when they were together, she could almost consider him a friend.

"The executives are in the boardroom?" Jemma asked.

"Not yet, they're in the lab. I just wanted to ask you to join me in the boardroom." Fitz said.

"Me?!"

"Why do you always seem so surprised?" Fitz chuckled.

"I... I'm just your assistant," she wrapped her cardigan tighter around herself, looking down at the floor.

"You're more than that, Jemma."

Jemma’s head snapped up, "Fitz..."

"I am glad to be Fitz again," he mused sincerely. 

"Thank you, but I don't think the other executives will agree that I'm on the board." Jemma finally mustered.

"I don't care, I'm the one who gives the orders and I have ordered you to be by my side on the board."

"Okay," Jemma gave up, she knew that when Fitz wanted something, he was going to get it, he was stubborn like that.

"I'll go find them, I will see you in exactly 10 minutes."

"I'll be there."

Fitz smiled at her and left. Jemma went back to Fitz's office, she had to print a copy of the report for herself so she could prepare.

"What did he say to you?" Elena asked as soon as she entered the office.

"He wants me to go with him to the board."

"No way!" Daisy said, looking away from the computer, 

"We have to fix you!" Jemma rolled her eyes at that comment.

"I only have ten minutes, all I need is a copy of the report and a pencil."

"Absolutely not," Elena said, "This is a very important board."

"You have to look dazzling," Bobbi nodded..

Jemma had no chance to protest, she was pushed into a chair and the three women jumped on her. Jemma had no idea where they got the brushes and makeup, but soon, they were doing their best to make her presentable.

For years, Jemma had been criticising her own physical appearance, there was not a single day in which she didn't see herself in the mirror and judge herself because she didn’t like how she looked. But in the last few days she had noticed that she cared less and less. Her college ‘friends’ were wrong, Milton was wrong. Even she was wrong. There were people who appreciated her and considered her to be a wonderful person.

Jemma Simmons' self-esteem was still damaged, but it seemed that every day healed it a little bit more. There was still a long way to go, but at least she had already taken the first step.

"I don't know whether you're a believer or not," Elena said while taking off a necklace with a cross on it, "But I want you to wear this during the board."

"Elena..."

"It's my strength," she told her as she hung the gold necklace on Jemma’s neck.

"I can't accept it," Jemma shook her head, lightly placing a hand over the necklace.

"Of course you can, everything will be okay if you have it for an hour or two. We're supporting you. Ten fe en ti, Jemma," Elena smiled encouragingly.

"Thank you. I'll take care of it in the next few hours."

"You're the smartest person here," said Bobbi, "Show them that you are the best assistant in Hydra!"

"And the best in biochemistry," Daisy added, "Kick their ass.”"

"I think I have to go," she said, nervously checking the time.

"Here you go," Bobbi said, giving her the report, a notebook and a pencil, "You've got this!"

__________

Fitz was excited, everyone seemed pleasantly surprised when he told them that they had managed to recover the hard drive and that they had the report ready for the board. Everyone, except Ward. Ward was pleased with Fitz’s failure and now had lost his opportunity to ruin his career.

"I hope the wait was worth it," his father said coldly as he entered the boardroom.

"Believe me, it will."

Fitz smiled when he saw Jemma hurriedly entering the boardroom, she had removed the strange sweater she was wearing in the morning, the upper buttons on her blouse were open and her hair was picked up in an elegant braid. He was almost sure that she was wearing makeup.

"Good morning," she told the board members.

"Please, Jemma," Fitz pointed to the seat next to him and pulled the chair out for her.

"Thank you," she said with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"What is she doing here, Leopold?" Ophelia asked, angrily.

"That’s an excellent question," his father agreed.

"Jemma will help me present to you the report that each of you have. She has become my right hand and is indispensable to me," Fitz said confidently.

The men around him started to protest but he spoke loudly, "No, this is fair. And if no one else has anything to say, I think it would be better if we started."

"This is going to be fun," Ward grumbled.

Fitz started by giving an introduction to the report, his hands were sweating while trying to keep calm.

"Jemma, go ahead," he said smoothly.

__________

Jemma had never been this nervous in her entire life, but she tried hard to not show it. While all executives seemed pleased with what she was saying, Ward kept asking her complicated questions, always waiting for her to make a mistake.

Just as Fitz predicted, Ward looked over every small detail of the entire report, it took fifteen full minutes for Ward to review all the papers and make sure everything coincided. Both Fitz and Jemma had done the best they could and now it was time to know if the late nights were worth it.

"Everything seems to be fine," Ward said with disdain.

"Seems?" Fitz mocked.

"Everything is fine," he said again, shooting daggers at Fitz and Jemma.

"Jemma, thank you very much for your help. You can go," Fitz said with a smile.

Jemma wanted to jump for joy, it was a little victory. Everything seemed lost a few moments ago and they managed to solve it, her friends had been a charm to help her and she was happy to have them in her life.

"She is here!" Bobbi said when she entered Fitz's office.

"How did it go?" Elena asked.

"Fine"

"Only fine?" Daisy asked, "We need details"

"Everything went out wonderfully. It was perfect"

The three screamed excited and hug her, Jemma was surprised for a moment but then began to enjoy being surrounded by so much love.

"Hey!" They heard Veronica's voice "What are they doing here and why are they doing so much noise?!"

"Is she Veronica?" Elena asked, Jemma had spoken to them many times about her little fights with Veronica.

"She is Verónica"

"Hear me well, dear," Daisy said, "Jemma is not alone, she has three friends who love her and who would give everything for her. She had an excellent day and we are celebrating her triumphs. As far as I know, that's not forbidden. So turn around, take your bad attitude with you and get involved in your own business."

"This is my business, I manage the image of Hydra and this type of scandals is not something that should be in Leopold's office."

"Daisy" Jemma put her hand on her shoulder, she didn't want them to continue fighting "It's OK"

"Go away," Veronica said, "And you, girl, you should start working"

"Who do you think you are like to talk to her like that?" Bobbi asked, obviously offended.

"I am Leopold's assistant, I have a much more important position than yours. And I take care of his reputation. Here we handle very sensitive information and it is my duty to make sure that that information is safe."

Bobbi and Elena began to argue with Veronica, really barely and understood what they were saying and when Jemma was about to stop them, Daisy took her by her arm and took her to Fitz's seat.

"Daisy..."

"Someone took out the information you had saved," she said in a whisper.

"What?"

"They hacked the hard drive, it was not damaged, it was only blocked. And while I was solving the problem, not only could I see that but also someone had managed to copy some files"

"Oh... Fitz has to know it"

"Yes, you have to tell him and... Wait a minute," she said with a fun smile "Fitz?"

"Forget it, this is very serious. This information is very important."

"I suppose so"

"Did you read it?"

"No, of course not"

"What is happening here?!"

The screams stopped and the five women saw Fitz completely terrified, he was accompanied by Whitehall and his father at the door of his office.

"Girls, thank you very much for all your help, but you have to go back to your work area," Fitz kindly told to her friends, they seemed surprised by his gesture.

"Yes, Doctor" murmured all three and left the office.

"Miss Simmons" said Whitehall, which made her nervous "Leopold has told us about your work in the recent months and has asked all Hydra's management members to be promoted, which we have accepted. You did an impeccable report and your contributions have improved the scientific area."

"From now on, you're Leopold's personal assistant and you've climbed a level," said Fitz's father, "No mention that Leopold has chosen you as the director of the new biochemical weapons project that he has decided to create."

"Wow, I..."

Jemma was surprised, it was much more than she had expected, she only expected to be a consultant and now she was director of such an important project and... Jemma was completely excited.

"It's an honor, thank you very much"

"Leopold will talk to you more about your new functions and Michael will make a new contract for you"

"Of course"

"You are Veronica, right?" Alistair asked.

"Yes, it's me" Verónica tried to stay calm.

"We have decided to take care of social events within Hydra, I think you will be better in that area"

"I..."

"It's best, in fact, your salary will be better. I suggested you be degrated to receptionist but Ophelia intervened. You will continue working around here but you will only organise together, events, all that kind of activities. Now, Jemma is my right hand," Fitz said.

"Congratulations, Miss Simmons," Whitehall said "Leopold, we will go with Ophelia to the lab, we would like to continue the journey"

"Of course, I will be with you in a minute"

Fitz's father and Whitehall left the office.

"Leopold..." said Veronica.

"We are going to organise an event to commemorate Hydra members who have died during their service, the specifications are on your desk"

"Yes, sir" murmured resigned and left the office.

"Fitz..."

"I expected more happiness from you, Jemma"

"I'm happy, just... I don't think you should treat her in that way"

"She treats you terribly badly and you still defend her, Why?" Jemma didn't find an answer "We are only doing the right thing. You've worked so hard to get promoted, your job is impeccable. And Veronica wasn't only a bad assistant, but also a bad worker. She's always late, she's never in her workplace, she doesn't deliver her job in time and form, and she takes too many freedoms."

"Thank you very much, Fitz"

"It's a pleasure"

"Hey, I... I have to tell you something"

"Should it be now? I have to go with them."

"It is urgent"

"What's going on?"

"Brown copied my files"

"What?! Are you sure?"

"Daisy noticed that someone had blocked the hard drive, it wasn't damaged. And she also realised that someone copied the files."

"Bloody hell" she murmured "Come with me, we have to solve this"

"We?"

"You are my right hand,"s he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We have to go. I think I could have an idea of what's going on."

"Alright..."

Both walked quickly to the engineering area, they went side by side. Somehow, she felt very comfortable working with Fitz and go with him everywhere, especially because he treated her as his equal, not as if she were inferior.

"Where is Brown?" Jemma said when they entered her office and realised that there was no one.

"I don't know, which makes him more suspicious"

"Do you have an idea of what is happening?"

"I have a lot of ideas right now" Fitz went to Brown's computer, Jemma assumed that he was going to look for the files that were on the hard drive.

"Fitz... I... I gave him my passwords, he said that he needed them to get all the information out."

"Don't worry, you were just trying to solve the problem," he said while typing on the computer "I just need a few seconds and... Here they are. The son of a bitch have copied all of it"

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know yet but we're going to find out"

"It's not time not to be a spy," she said with a little smile.

"Here he comes," said Fitz when Brown entered, he seemed nervous and agitated, stopped dry when he saw them both in his office.

"Brown, it is an honor that you have joined us," Fitz said.

"Doctor..."

"How funny, you told us that it would take you a whole day to make a copy of Jemma's files but somehow, they're all in your computer's memory."

"Doctor... I..."

"What interest do you have in those files?"

"I just..."

"I want you to be clear, I want you to tell me everything you planned to do with that information, because otherwise I'll use other methods and you won't like that"

"Leopold!" Veronica said coming in quickly.

"I'm busy right now, Verónica"

"Your father is asking for you"

"I'm busy, go away!" Veronica almost ran away, she seemed strangely nervous. Jemma was beginning to suspect her, she had been acting in a very strange way all day. "Brown, I want you to know, I'm not going to stop finding out what you were doing. It's your decision if we do this in an easy or difficult way."

"But..." seemed to meditate on it for a second.

Jemma was a little scared, she have never seen Fitz being so cold and... Evil. She have seen him in a bad mood, there was no doubt about that, but never in this way.

"Fitz" she said almost imploring, Jemma didn't want anyone to be hurt.

"If you cooperate with me, Brown, I can assure you that nothing will happen to you," he said honestly, "I'm going to make it easier for you, I'll give you names and you just will say yes or no."

"Michael"

"No"

"Ophelia"

"Of course not, Doctor"

"Grant Ward"

"No"

"Bakshi?" Brown strained "You're a terrible liar. Tell me what orders Bakshi gave you"

"Please stop"

"I decide when it's time to stop, what orders did you get?!"

"He just said that I have to get the files out of the hard drive."

"Who else participated in this?"

"I don't know, I just talked to Mr Bakshi"

"Bakshi received the Jemma archives?"

"No, I didn't have time to give them to him. Mr. Bakshi only asked me to remove the files from the hard drive."

"Is there any other copy of the Jemma files?"

"No, only what is on my computer. Mr Bakshi told me that I had to be very careful with this information."

"I think that you already know that you don't work here anymore. Go, tomorrow we will send a messenger to your house to give you your stuff."

"Yes, sir"

Jemma didn't expect to be involved in a situation like this, she thought she was going to be locked in that closet all the time attending calls. Things were apparently more intense than she imagined.

__________

Fitz was worried, there was something very strange about this and had to solve it as quickly as possible. To begin with, he had to take Bakshi out of the move, it was dangerous to keep him so close after all this incident.

"What are you thinking?" Jemma asked.

He really was totally fascinated by her and felt that he was soon going to go crazy because he could not put order on his thoughts. Jemma had been magnificent on this day, she solved the whole problem and gave an amazing presentation of the report they had prepared. He felt that his heart accelerated when he saw her with those soft honey-coloured eyes full of emotion after they told her that she was promoted, Jemma was so able to transmit so many feelings with just one look.

This time it was no exception, Jemma was watching him with some curiosity but there was also a little fear, which he understood because even he himself was scared by the way he threatened Brown. He felt embarrassed.

Why she made him feel ashamed all the time?

"Fitz, please don't be hard with him"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because..." Jemma seemed insecure "I don't think you're a bad person"

"I am a bad person, Jemma" said with shame "I have to do my job. Even if I don't like it" fear returned to her look "I'm not going to hurt him, I just want to interrogate him and fire him"

Jemma gave him a little smile. Fitz set aside for her to leave Brown's office.

Before going to his office, he had to change Brown's office code to make sure no one came into that office and found the files. Both went back to his office, Fitz asked Veronica to call Bakshi to go to his office and then asked Jemma to go to her closet and take care of her pending work, in fact he didn't want her to be present during the talk he was going to have with Bakshi.

"Leopold, I didn't expect you to call me," he said with a tense smile "I was with Whitehall and Ophelia watching advances in the vaccine."

"We're going straight to the point, Bakshi. I know you know the reason why I call you, so What do you prefer? The easy or the difficult method?"

"The easy, Leopold," he said with nervousness.

"Why were you so interested in Jemma's files?"

"I just... You took away all my prestige to give it to her. I spent my life on Hydra and you degrated me to be a simple assistant and to be the guy of news."

"And? That doesn't explain anything. What did you expect to do with the documents?"

"I just wanted to sabotage her, I knew she would get into a big problem if she didn't deliver the report to the board."

"That doesn't explain why you asked Brown to make a copy of her hard drive"

"I wanted to check all the files and look for a mistake, I wanted to show you that she isn't as perfect as you think"

In some how Bakshi was right. Jemma was much more perfect than he could imagine. Perfect was a very short word for her.

"Who are you working with?"

"Are you sorry?"

"I'm not stupid. Tell me, who gave you the order?"

"Leopold..."

"For your sake, I recommend that you be honest. You know better than anyone how persuasive I can be, I could take you to an interrogation room."

"No one, I acted alone. I was angry and jealous, I couldn't hold that my position was on HER hands."

“Bakshi, you're fired. I don't want to see you again”

“Yes, Leopold”

"Go before I forget my promise and hurt you"

Bakshi gave him a look of contempt before he left. Fitz had to make some calls so Bakshi didn't make any strange moves.

Fitz sighed and went to Jemma's office, he really felt the need to talk to her and give her an explanation.

“Jemma” he knocked the door.

“Come in”

“Hey”

“What happened?” She asked cautiously.

“I just... I talked to Bakshi, I asked him why he did it and from whom he is receiving orders and then I fired him.”

“Did you hurt him?”

“No, of course” she seemed much more calm “Jemma, I want you to call executives, I have to talk to them”

“Sure”

“And I want you to come with me”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely”

__________

Jemma was on her way to the boardroom after calling the executives, fortunately they were still in The Triskelion. When she arrived, Fitz was already there and asked her to sit next to him.

“What do you want to talk to them, Fitz?”

"You'll see" murmured.

When the executives came in, Jemma felt intimidated under the gaze of hatred Ophelia threw her.

“What is happening?” Fitz's father asked.

“It won’t take us long,” he said, “As you all know, today we had a serious problem that delayed the board. I call you to another reunion because after a series of investigations, we discovered that all this was a sabotage” all murmured surprised.

“What are you talking about, Leopold?” Whitehall asked.

Fitz told them everything that happened, or at least part of it, told them everything Bakshi confessed to him. Now that Jemma was listening to all the events of the day, she realized that it really had been an experience. And she had really managed to get out of the problem, even imposed herself on some people, that was really she?

“It’s a shame,” Ward said, “I hope you’ve make him suffer”

“You know me perfectly well, I wasn’t going to let him go free” he lied. 

“I suppose we have to find a replacement for Bakshi,” Fitz’s father said, “Is there anything else?”

“No, I just wanted to make of your knowledge the situation. I want you to be perfectly clear that I am not going to pass any betrayal and that things are totally under control. My control”

“Leopold, I have to be honest,” Whitehall said, “I’m impressed with the results. I'm sure Hydra is in very good hands”

“It is”

Jemma noticed the proud gaze that Fitz and Hunter shared, they were pleased with the results of the board.

“Do you still want to go to the new ops base?” Fitz asked.

“No, I think it’s better for us to wait for everything to be finished. So I propose that the next board be in November,” Whitehall said.

“Perfect, you will be here for the wedding,” Ophelia said stretching to take Fitz’s hand.

“Excellent. Then I'll see you in November.”

Everyone left the room, Ophelia left after kissing Fitz and giving a hateful look to Hunter and Jemma. As soon as only three of them left in the boardroom, the two men began to jump excited and to celebrate, Jemma felt like a stranger but before she could turn around to leave the boardroom, Fitz took her through her wrist and hugged her strongly.

“That was awesome!” Fitz said against her ear.

Jemma was frozen for a moment, without knowing what to do or say, her heart accelerated and began to beat hard against her chest. She managed to move her arms and surround him, it was... It was strange, but Fitz felt good, warm and firm.

"You're the best, Jemma"

“You have said that before”

“I... It’s better for me to leave,” Hunter said and quickly left the boardroom.

Unfortunately, Hunter got them out of their bubble and Fitz separated from her. Jemma almost wanted to protest.

“I...”

“Congratulations, Fitz”

“I am very proud of you, Jemma. You were the best. Thank you very much for all your support. And I assure you that your position in Hydra will change, but I will also raise your salary.”

“It was nothing”

“It was everything”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So what do you think? I would love to read comments. I’m always open to read critics (even the bad ones) cause they let me know what I’m doing wrong
> 
> You can find me on tumblr like agentemaria4722, I’m very active in there and I’m open to prompts and suggestions. (Also, I have mood board of this work in there) 
> 
> Also, I have a Instagram account, it’s bloodycosmossss and it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message or anything, I’ll answer you


	19. Inside my head.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fitz looked at Jemma, his eyes on hers. There was the usual shine that they had when they worked together in the lab but also something undefinable too. Fitz felt his heart beating faster against his chest with a strange feeling that he had never felt before. Something soft, warm. He got distracted completely because of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m so sorry for the delate, it’s been a rough week  
> But here I’m!  
> I want to thank to Sionell, the beta of this chapter, for all her help

Jemma had stayed in her closet the rest of the afternoon.She had to sort out some things on Fitz's agenda as well as study the new conditions of her new position. In fact, as soon as she managed to finish working on Fitz's agenda, she sat down to read the contract very carefully.

“Jemma,” called her Fitz.

Jemma left her office and smiled when she saw Fitz more relaxed. Since it was about seven o'clock and the working day was about to end, everything was more relaxed now that the executives had left.

“Yeah?”

“Did you read the contract?”

“I’m in the process of doing that.”

“What do you think?”

“It’s... It's a very big salary. And a lot of work. And responsibility.”

“Do you not like it?” He asked with concern.

“I love it,” Jemma said with a smile “So much time in the lab.”

“I thought it was more appropriate considering that you are a biochemist,” he replied with a shy little smile. “I want you to come with me.”

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise.”

Jemma seemed confused, even a little intimidated, which made Fitz feel quite bad. He wanted her to trust in him.

“It’s something special,” Fitz said, trying to calm her down. . “I just want you to know a special place in the engineering area.”

“A place in the engineering area?” She asked, confused. “I thought I knew everything.”

“Not everything, you're missing a place” These words aroused Jemma’s curiosity.

“Ok,” she said, a little doubtful.

“Let’s go.” Fitz held the door open, gesturing for Jemma to walk through before him as they left the office. He joined her to walk side by side, down the hall It felt good to have this kind of closeness, like having a good friend.

“This way,” he told her, pointing to the background of one of the corridors in the engineering area.

When his father was still in charge of Hydra, he liked to spend his entire days locked in his laboratory, working on secret projects,with wonderful creations that would help save many people. Sadly, most of his projects were never carried out, despised by his father and considered nonsense. If his projects weren’t meant to hurt people, then they didn’t matter. 

  
  


“Here it is,” he said. “Lately, I haven’t been able to spend as much time here as before. But, now that executives are happy with my work and Ward is far from here, we can work on the drones.”

“What’s behind this?” asked Jemma, walking past Fitz to the metal door on the far side of the large lab at the end of the laboratory bench. 

“My safe place,” he said, with a smile. “It’s my personal lab.”

Jemma watched as Fitz entered the code and put his finger on the fingerprint reader. He stepped aside to make way for Jemma to enter the lab.

“Wow,” murmured Jemma.

It was a big space. His father had designed it for him when he went to work at the Triskelion. Jemma walked through the entire room, looking with amazement as she looked at the detail at what was in it. Actually, Jemma was trying to learn more about Fitz through his lab, from organizing office supplies to post it full of ideas for future projects.

“What do you think?” Fitz asked.

“I think it’s fantastic,” Jemma said with a smile. “There are many interesting things around here.” Jemma outlined the microscope revolver with her finger.

“I thought we needed a more equipped space to start working with the drones and...” Since Fitz was nervous, he kept rambling. “This is a good place.” Jemma still didn’t seem to understand the idea completely, so he decided to be more direct. “Do you like it?”

“Yes, it’s a nice lab.” Jemma says with a little smile.

"If there's something you want to change, you can do it." Fitz says.

“Why should I do it?” Jemma seemed confused, he didn't give her many details about what they were going to do here. 

“Because I was thinking this could be your lab too,” said Fitz, noting Jemma seemed surprised. “I don’t think the head of one of Hydra’s most important projects should be locked in a closet.”

“Fitz.”

“My lab has the same team as the rest of the labs in The Triskelion, but I have made some improvements. Besides, I’m not here much anymore, I’m in my office more, most of my time so it would be something like your personal lab.”

“I have to admit it, I’m surprised.”

“You deserve it, a biochemist with two PhDs should not be working as a secretary inside a dark closet.”

“I like my closet,” blushed Jemma. “I’m close to you. I mean, we work better if we are closer.”

“Yes, that’s great,” he said with a nervous laugh. “But no one deserves to be hidden in a cold closet.”

“It’s not cold, it's charming,” said Jemma, strangely determined to stay in the closet. “It has a certain charm,” she repeated.” A part of Fitz hoped it was because she wanted to spend time with him and be close just because she considered him a nice person. He worried constantly about what she thought of him “I could stay in the closet and then come here when it is necessary. After all, I am your personal assistant, I must stay close to you.”

Yes please, as often as possible. Fitz said in his mind, obviously it was not something he would admit aloud.

“That would be a good idea,” he said with a smile. “And I was serious when I told you that you can change whatever you want in the lab.”

“I’m thinking on a system,” Jemma said, as she walked around the laboratory. “Maybe colors, codes, things like that.” Jemma drew her finger across the laboratory bench. “What do you think about B is for blue is for biological?”

“You are very good at that. And I like it. If you want any equipment, just tell me and I'll see you have the chance to buy it.”

“Fitz...”

“Yes?”

“Why are you doing all this?” 

Fitz looked at Jemma, his eyes on hers. There was the usual shine that they had when they worked together in the lab but also something undefinable too. Fitz felt his heart beating faster against his chest with a strange feeling that he had never felt before. Something soft, warm. He got distracted completely because of her.

“What?” Fitz says, trying to seem calm.

“All of this. The promotion, salary, lab. Everything.” Jemma seemed a little shy but she didn’t stop to look at him in the eyes.

“Because I think you deserve it, because you’re a wonderful scientist and because...”

Fitz had been trying to find an explanation to the strange thoughts that he had about Jemma. It wasn’t something he experienced before. In the last few days, Fitz felt he was losing his head. He was constantly seeing her and admiring every detail of her face. He felt comforted by her presence.

Fitz really didn’t come to a conclusion yet but he began to discover more about what he thought about Jemma though not where those thoughts came from nor what they meant.. What brought him the most attention was the way Jemma made him feel and how much he liked it.

“You’ve worked hard to have all of this. You're a genius, you're the kind of person who has to be at the forefront of big projects.”

“I’m flattered.”

“I’m too,” Fitz said nervously. “I mean…” he blushed, he didn’t mean to be this awkward. “I’m honored to work with a scientist of your level.”

“Oh, please, ” Jemma shrugged off the compliment, not really believing it, rolling her eyes. “I already said yes. There is no need to continue flattering me.” Jemma walked toward his holotable. “This will be of great help to work on the drones.”

“Honestly, I can hardly wait.”

“I have lots of ideas to add to your design.”

“I am anxious to listen to them.”

Fitz could hardly wait to start working with Jemma on another big project. Jemma had contributed so much to the creation of dendrotoxin, she was an expert in her area of experience and Fitz was pretty sure that she would surprise him with what she had in mind for the drones. It would simply be fantastic. She would be fantastic.

__________

Jemma met her friends at the entrance to The Triskelion where they had agreed to go to celebrate the events of the day after work. Jemma would even spend the night at Daisy's house since they were having a ladies night.

If she was honest about it, Jemma was very nervous. It was her first ladies night . Her mother was very nervous as soon as she told her, even though, or maybe because, she would be with her friends. She sent thousands of messages asking her to be careful. When she was younger, her classmates didn’t invite her to the parties. It was obvious that her presence made them feel threatened since she was always the best of the class and the youngest. She never fit inside that world. And at the beginning of her adult life, she had attended a couple of parties with Milton, but she didn’t have any fun. Most of the time, they only talked about work, which made sense considering that he...well, it didn't make sense. Jemma shook off remembering the past when being in the was so much more bright and hopeful.

“There’s a bar not so far from here,” Bobbi said, “It’s run by a strange guy, but he’s a good guy. He has quite interesting drinks,” she explained while they were waiting for the Uber that would take them there. “I think that you’ll find it nice.”

When they arrived, Jemma was pretty curious about how this night would go.. It had been a rather intense day in every way. Jemma needed to relax and just enjoy the little pleasures of life.

“This way,” said Bobbi, taking them to the bar. “Hi, Enoch,” said to the bartender, a tall, thin and bald man with a truly peculiar look.

“Hello, Agent Morse,” he said dryly in a somewhat deep but resonant voice, cocking his head to the side.

“Give us your best today, we have a lot to celebrate,” Bobbi said with a warm smile.

“It will be a pleasure,” Enoch said kindly while continuing to leave an oddball impression.

Jemma had had some cocktails in her life, but they definitely didn’t look at all like the strange mix of colors that was the cocktail that Enoch gave to them. Elena and Daisy seemed as surprised as she was, but they gave the strange drink a chance when they saw Bobbi gulp down almost half.

Jemma tentatively sipped the drink Enoch placed in front of her, which was in fact quite tasty.

“I want to propose a toast,” said Daisy, grabbing her glass as well. “For Jemma. Who today showed those conceited bastards that she is the best.” She raised it higher. “You are a wonderful woman and I think that I speak for us all when we say we are very happy for you.” She reached over and clinked it against Jemma’s and then Bobbi’s. 

Her other friends did the same as well, leaving Jemma thinking that the feeling was mutual. She was always grateful to have friends like them. The night continued with more dancing, drinking strange but delicious colored cocktails, talking and laughter.

“Tengo que miar” the three women saw at Elena stunned “¿Les comió la lengua el ratón?”

“What?” said Bobbi.

“I have to pee, ” said Elena standing up.

“Oh! Right! I’ll go with you,” Bobbi said.

Jemma smiled while she kept drinking. This was how friendship was supposed to feel, with people who accepted you as you were, in good times and bad .

“I have to be honest, this is the most fun I’ve ever had out, ” Jemma told Daisy “And I’ve had a lot of fun in these months that I’ve been to Hydra. I am very happy to have met you.”

“Stop with that or I’ll get sentimental,” she smiled and beat her shoulder gently. “Oh! Look!” Daisy, gesturing at a bottle with some colored candies in it. “This place is strange but incredible.”

“Give me one of those,” said Jemma, reaching for the jar.

“Sure.” Daisy took out two pieces and handed it over. “It’s been a great night,” popping one of purple candies into her mouth.

“Amen to that” Jemma followed with a yellow candy. “It tastes nice.”

“Yes, they have a good taste.” Daisy snacked another one. “But I can’t quite place the flavor.”

Jemma was about to eat another candy, but she felt a hand around her wrist to stop her. Jemma was surprised to see Enoch impassible but determined to prevent her from eating that little candy.

“Hey, that's rude.” Daisy complained.

“I'm afraid that these little ones are just decoration, I must have forgotten to put a notice. I'm ashamed for my clumsiness.” said Enoch, he take the hand out of her hand and return it to the bottle “I'll bring good candies for human consumption, the house invites.”

__________

Fitz was sitting with Hunter next to him at the bar where both had gone to celebrate the wonderful day they had had.

“I can’t believe we finally beat Ward,” Hunter told him after they toast with beer.

“Jemma helped us a lot. All today's success wouldn’t have been possible without her.” Fitz said with a little smile while nursing his beer.

"Ugh, I feel you're talking about her all the time."

“Hey, you have to admit that she saved our ass today. Jemma solved everything and thanks to her we were able to impress all the executives.”

“She was doing her job, she’s your assistant, you remember that?.”

“Of course I remember it, but she's an excellent assistant. That's why I gave her the promotion.”

“Of course, I don’t think you’ve done it to seduce her,” he teased.

“Why do you always say all those horrible things about her all the time?.”

“I’m just being honest.” he replied, a bit confused. “I mean, she’s quite boring. Simple.”

“Maybe for you, but... Jemma is smart, fun, very fun, kind, she has a bright smile and she is... She is beautiful in a way...”

“Classic. Yes, I know. You say that all the damn time, you don’t have to remind me of it once again.” Hunter had heard that description quite often. “God, it seems as if you like her.”

“She is a good person.” 

"Yes, that's what you say. Look, I don't know her, but she looks pretty boring and I'm surprised at the way you talk about her. If you want to sleep with her, just do it.”

“I don’t want to sleep with her.”

“That's obvious. If she’s boring at work, she must be even more boring in bed,” Hunter drawled.

"Can you stop being an idiot?” chastised Fitz. “Women are much more than just skin. Jemma is an amazing woman, her mind is an Universe. And I'm sure Bobbi is also beautiful inside her mind, because she's smart enough not to let you use her.”

“Hey, relax, it was just a comment.”

“A very stupid one.”

“God, you seem to fancy her. She’s untouchable.”

“And so what?!”

“Don’t get your knickers in such a twist, man... What’s wrong with you?”

Well of course he was annoyed, Jemma was fantastic, kind and too intelligent for her own good. For years, Fitz had only been able to call Hunter his friend. And shit, yes, Fitz liked Jemma, she was a good friend, he felt honored to be able to consider her his friend.

He liked her.

__________

“That guy was just being selfish.” said Daisy “Those candies were fantastic!”

“I know!” Jemma said with a smile.

“They are fantastic! This place is fantastic.”

“I know! Look at all these colors!.”

“And the lights!”

“It’s very pretty!”

Daisy and Jemma were lounging under a table, admiring the show of lights and colors in front of them. Enoch had made a mistake. The small puffies were good for humans - they both felt better than ever.

“I wonder why he uses them as decoration.” Jemma suddenly said, too thoughtfully.

“He's a weird guy. It would be a success if he offered them.”

“Daisy! Look!” Jemma points with her finger a light blue under them. “How pretty!”

“Oh it’s a nice color.” Daisy raised her hands, trying to catch it, racing like cat paws across her line of sight. She laughed when the light went away. “Come back here!”

“Oh, don’t go!” Jemma said mournfully. “Oh… I really like it. It’s like Fitz’s eyes. Sparkly, deep and beautiful.”

“Hey, you damn girl,” Daisy hits her shoulder kindly. “Fitz, huh? When did you start to call him Fitz instead of Doctor.”

“It’s better than Leopold,” Jemma tasted the word on her lips. “It’s a weird word.”

“What?”

“Leopold.”

“Huh. Leopold,” repeated Daisy. “Leopold.”

“Leopold.” Both girls repeat Leopold in many tones, high tones, low tones, soft tones, goofy tones, weird tones and at the end they were laughing like loons.

“It’s a weird word,” concluded Jemma. “I prefer Fitz. It’s a nice word. It could be my favorite word. I like it. I like him,” she smiled.

“Oh I can’t believe you! You’re a little sunshine and he is…”

“Soft? Cute? Pasty and shy? Well yes, that’s what makes him lovely. Fitz is incredibly smart and handsome…”

“If you say so…”

“Here they are!” Elena screamed.

Jemma gasps when someone takes her foot and pulls her out from under the table, she laughs cause her stomach feels funny. 

“Bobbi!” Daisy screamed her excitement as she threw herself into Bobbi’s arms. “How good to see you!”

"Hey, what's going on?" asked a perplexed Bobbi. “What are you doing here?”

“Your hair is so glowy,” said Jemma approaching Elena and touching her hair.

“This is strange,” said Elena, seeing Daisy and Jemma’s euphoric state. “What did you take?”

“Puffies!” Jemma said with an enormous grin. “Enoch said that they are only decorations but they are amazing. You should try them!”

“Puffies?” Bobbie shook her head, even more bewildered than before. “I'll go talk to Enoch. Elena, take care of them.”

Jemma was happy. There was so much happiness flooding her body even though everything was twirling around her. Until she saw him, everything around her was perfectly clear.

He was perfect, sweet, soft. Fitz stood in front of her, he was in an adorable adorable monkey onesie. His beard was longer and more disorderly, his blue eyes shining, and Jemma felt her heart was going to explode in happiness. Fitz was on the other side of the room, seeing him with that beautiful smile, as if they were recreating a stupid romantic movie.

“Hi, little monkey Fitz!” She said happily.

“Oh for God’s sake, what did you take?” Elena murmured by taking her arm before Jemma will advance to meet Fitz.

“No! I have to be with him!” she said with a dopey grin. “I want to smell his hair. And move my mouth on him, a lot, but only if he wants to because then it wouldn’t be fun.”

“Bad news,” said Bobbi, coming to them, completely scared. “They’re high.”

“You already noticed?!” Elena said sarcastically.

“Nuh-uh!!” Daisy complained.

“That's not true! I'm not high. I am in love.” Daisy and Jemma laughed.

“What did they take?”

“Enoch’s decorations, if you can believe it. Who eats decorations? But it's more complicated than you imagine. He said that the effect will pass in a few hours but we have to keep them safe until then. Let's go, we'll head to my place."

Jemma screamed excitedly when she realized that Bobbi and Elena were taking them past Fitz.

Fitz was amazing. And he deserved to be happy. God, she wanted to make him happy. Jemma wanted to lock him in a lab and protect him from all the world's evils, give him a lot of materials to keep him busy and make sure he had enough tea and cookies for their whole life. Keep that shine in his eyes when he is working in what he loves and the kindness that he irradiated when is talking about helping people. Fitz made things from the genius of his mind and the goodness of his heart to help people, that was what makes him happy and he deserves to do that all the days of his life.

But Jemma didn't deserve him. She was too boring and simple for him. Fitz had a terrifyingly beautiful, successful and intelligent girlfriend that he was going to marry. Jemma couldn't compete against Ophelia.

But she wanted to be able to.

__________

When Fitz arrived at their apartment, Ophelia was already asleep. His head was spinning and not precisely because of the beer he had consumed. He was simply too immersed in his thoughts to think clearly. 

It didn't help seeing a lot of wedding magazines next to Ophelia. From the beginning, he knew he didn't want to marry Ophelia, but with every day that passed and the wedding day got closer, he only became more convinced that he didn't want to take that step with her. Fitz left the room and went right to the kitchen. He needed a good cup of tea.

Fitz wasn’t satisfied with either Ophelia or any of the women he had sex with. Fitz felt a huge void. Ophelia gave him stability but only that, Fitz respected her because she was a very intelligent and strong woman. But she was definitely not the kind of person whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Fitz had never really been in love before. He had always been a romantic, so for many years he thought that he had only to wait for his soul mate to arrive. But if in these years he hadn’t met someone who completed him and with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life, she definitely wouldn’t arrive before November.

He had everything, and at the same time, he had nothing.

When Fitz thought about the woman with whom he wanted to share his life, he thought of a woman with whom he could talk about everything, share their secrets and dreams, be able to truly be who he is and be loved.

Even when he respected Ophelia, she wasn’t a person who he wanted to be near to him. Ophelia was beautiful, intelligent and strong, but also vile, ambitious, sadistic and cold. When he arrived at their department, the atmosphere there didn’t give him the feeling of warmth that he wants for a home.

When the water was ready, Fitz started his tea brewing and then went to sit at the dining table. Sometimes he wanted to have enough courage to take the reins of his life but he had come so far that now it felt impossible.

He put his hand on his pocket to look for his phone, he found a paper that when he took out and unfolded, discovered that it contained a chocolate biscuit. For some reason, the biscuit's presence made him smile. Every day he smiled when he saw the cup of tea and the cookies Jemma bought for him.

Jemma was so kind. A single smile of hers was enough to brighten his whole day. And she was stronger than she imagined. Not to mention the intelligence that she had and how she used it to help people.

Fitz knew all the shortcomings he had, he knew he was a bastard and that he didn't deserve good things to happen to him. But for a short moment he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like to share life with a woman like Jemma. She was the kind of person you could count on, whom you could have a cordial and honest conversation, whom you could have a relationship based on trust and respect, without lies, without hostile comments. He didn’t have to hide his real personality. 

She was wonderful. Anyone would kill to have a person like her but she didn't deserve anyone. Jemma deserved the best.

And he really liked Jemma.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! What do you think? I would love to read your thoughts about this chapter. I can’t believe that I write almost 20 chapters of slow burn
> 
> You can find me on tumblr like agentemaria4722, I’m very active in there and I’m open to prompts and suggestions. (Also, I have mood board of this work in there)
> 
> Also, I have a Instagram account, it’s bloodycosmossss and it’s my personal account but if you want to send me a message or anything, I’ll answer you


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